NBA Expands Twitter Deal

Twitter‘s NBA videos will still include #NBARapidReplay highlights, #NBAVine highlights and behind-the-scenes footage, #PhantomCam player arrivals, plays of the game, animated GIFs, #NBAmixtape custom edits and “Day in the Life” takeovers.

The deal with the National Basketball Association is the latest in Twitter’s strategy to lure more users that want to watch and interact with live events, particularly sporting events. A source familiar with the matter said that Twitter is not paying the league for the shows as both parties will just share on whatever advertising revenue will be generated from them.

But deals like this with the National Football League are what helped Twitter win the Thursday night rights, even without the highest bid. The show will feature elements created to have Twitter conversation integrated into the content. Another live show on Twitter will be announced at a later date. Last week, the company signed a deal with Pac-12 to broadcast over 150 United States university games in a variety of sports, such as soccer, baseball, and ice hockey.

Twitter has been hungry for sports and news video content, which the company sees as meshing well with real-time tweets and serving to keep users on Twitter longer (as well as attracting non-Twitter users to the platform).

The emphasis on live-streaming original and exclusive content comes as the market for such offerings is getting more competitive, with the likes of Facebook paying some celebrities to produce content for its Facebook Live video service. Twitter live-streamed Wimbledon and recently announced plans to the do same for several Bloomberg TV programs. Commissioner Adam Silver has recognized the importance of satisfying the social media thirst for the league’s fans and is trying to stay ahead of the technological curve. There aren’t as many details on what the second one will be about, but it will also be exclusive to Twitter.

He said that technology brings fans closer to the NBA’s games, teams and players.