The NFL confirmed that Thursday Night Football will be streamed live from Twitter. News of the micro-blogging platform broadcasting games was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday morning.
Since then, the NFL has confirmed that the social network has landed the digital rights, beating competitors like Yahoo, Amazon and Verizon. The news was officially announced by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this,” read Goodell’s tweet.
The NFL has a “Tri-Cast” distribution model for the 10 Thursday Night Football games: broadcast, cable and digital. While Twitter has the exclusive rights for the latter, the games will simulcast on cable on NFL Network and on broadcast on NBC and CBS.
“Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football,” said Goodell in a statement. “There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season. This agreement also provides additional reach for those brands advertising with our broadcast partners.”
By making this content available on Twitter, the NFL is allowing the games to be viewed for free for all users of the platform.
"This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
