Pac-12 announces streaming deal with Twitter

At least 150 games will be streamed live during the 2016-17 academic year.

Exposure for the conference is something Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans says the conference is committed to, with an added emphasis on enabling fans to be able to view more events.

Pac-12 Plus is a broadband network of live events produced by the Pac-12 Network’s 12 universities. The NFL announced recently it will stream 10 Thursday Night Football games on Twitter globally during the 2016 campaign.

The deal covers school-produced sporting events such as soccer, baseball, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming and diving. In other words, Twitter is not the exclusive home to the live streams.

This is the third live-streaming deal Twitter has cracked to enlarge its platform this week. More rumors surfaced that Twitter has already sold $50 million in advertisements around the deal, making it ROI positive nearly instantly, aside from the rather large exposure. Pac-12 Digital encompasses the digital network, mobile, the university websites, social media and innovative digital initiatives across the company.

According to Twitter’s CFO, Anthony Noto, “Twitter is the fastest way to find out what is happening in live sports”. For more information, visit about.twitter.com or follow @twitter.

Thursday’s announcement comes after a plethora of headaches regarding the Pac-12 Networks, now entering its fifth year. Does this solve all of the distribution issues with the Pac-12 Network?

The Pac-12 Networks will reach an extra half million fans in Southern California by broadcasting through Frontier, which is formerly Verizon FIOS.

On Monday Twitter unveiled a deal with CBS to live stream this month’s Republican and Democratic conventions.