Last month, after Amazon outbid Twitter for streaming rights to some NFL games, we thought the social network’s season was toast.
Proving us wrong, Twitter and the NFL just announced a multiyear partnership, which seems to encompass everything except full-length games.
Per the content-sharing pact, the pair is inviting brands to advertise on “official” NFL content created specifically for Twitter’s unique platform.
Specifically, the league plans to produce a 30-minute live digital show, which is scheduled to stream on Twitter five days a week during the NFL season.
Hosted by NFL Network talent, the program will cover everything from news to highlights to fantasy projections to pre-game updates.
The NFL also plans to incorporate Periscope and Twitter to offer live pre-game access from each and every prime-time game windows, as well as key match-ups during the season.
“Twitter continues to be an important partner in accessing millions of highly engaged fans,” Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s chief media and business officer, said in a statement.
Of course, neither Rolapp nor anyone at Twitter made mention of Twitter’s failure to secure streaming rights for 10 games during the forthcoming 2017-2018 season.
That honor recently went to Amazon -- a prize for which the ecommerce giant reportedly paid about $50 million.
If accurate, that’s about five times what Twitter paid the NFL to stream 10 games during the 2016-2017 season.