Twitter gives first glimpse at what its sports live-streams could look like with Wimbledon coverage
Twitter has unveiled an integrated Wimbledon stream, giving users a peek at how the social network intends to expand its sports coverage.
Twitter is livestreaming Wimbledon
While Twitter will not stream live matches, a page on the platform is giving users access to live interviews, analysis and match replays from ESPN. ESPN however, still holds the US digital streaming rights for all live matches during the competition.
The move comes as the platform continues to double down on video, and is the first indication of what future live sporting coverage could actually look like on Twitter.
The Wimbledon commentary is being hosted on a dedicated ‘live’ page on Twitter, alongside a real-time tweet feed – linking the footage to the social media buzz around it.
A few months ago the social network stumped up $10m for the rights to stream NFL’s Thursday night football games. The coverage will kick off later this year, and reports have suggested that considerable interest from advertisers surrounding the American football games has been so high that Twitter is poised to announce deals to stream more live events.
Twitter’s big draw over streaming sites like Amazon or YouTube is that sports events can be paired with conversation going on around them within the social network’s walls. The NFL games will be streamed live for free without authentication to a potential audience of 800 million-plus registered and non-registered Twitter users.
Wimbledon has been upping the ante on social this year, inking a multiyear deal with Snapchat to share live moments and behind-the-scenes footage from the competition.