According to the Wall Street Journal yesterday, the National Football League has reached a deal with Twitter to use the social network’s Amplify product to make highlights and other content available to users both during and after games.
The NBA utilized this service during the 2013 NBA Playoffs, tweeting “Rapid Replays” during the course of playoff games, with a seven-second pre-roll ad from its sponsors Sony Pictures, Sprint and Taco Bell. Here is an example of how the NBA used the Amplify product, and how the NFL will too:
Roy Hibbert’s BIG block. One of the nicest you’ll see #NBARapidReplay – http://t.co/aAJmjhQugM
Advertisement— NBA (@NBA) May 19, 2013
According to the Wall Street Journal:
The NFL will have a team dedicated to producing “programming” for Twitter users seven days a week, including in-game highlights from Thursday night games on the NFL Network, and clips from games on other networks such as CBS and Fox once they have aired. In addition, the NFL will serve up content including news, analysis and fantasy football advice.
The initiative is part of Twitter’s Amplify revenue-generating program that lets TV content owners distribute programming in users’ Twitter feeds, with short ads embedded. The companies share the ad revenue.
The NFL and Twitter have pre-sold ad inventory, netting cash in the low eight-figure range, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Sports are perfectly suited to making the best use of the Amplify platform, and will likely continue to be a major source of revenue for sports leagues and Twitter. MLB has been notoriously protective over its TV licensing, but it will not be surprising to see the NHL sign a similar deal with Twitter before the start of the season.