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Twitter Live-Streaming Republican & Democratic National Conventions
Posted On Jul 14 2016
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Twitter Inc. and CBS News are teaming up to stream coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions on Twitter, the companies announced Monday.
The live stream will also feature live Tweets related to the convention.
As Facebook continues to move into Twitter’s domain of live events, it’s become harder and harder for the smaller social-media company to stand out and win new users. The GOP convention begins in Cleveland on July 18, with the Democrats in Philadelphia the following week.
One would have thought Twitter would use Periscope to stream the conventions, but the company probably thought of the popularity and wider reach its microblogging platform would present.
“We’re doing it as an experiment around the conventions because it’s a unique moment in time and I think it does lend itself to this type of distribution”, Marc DeBevoise, President of CBS Interactive, told USA TODAY. Finally, “With All Due Respect” focuses on the election cycle (another major topic of discussion on Twitter), with analysis from political journalists Mark Halperin, and John Heilemann.
A simulcast of CBSN, the news division’s streaming service, will appear on Twitter whenever the convention is in session.
The live stream might be available on the CNN Europe website but if not, a VPN can be used to access the video on their USA site.
CBS News Digital provides coverage across CBSN, CBSNews.com, CBS News’ social accounts including @cbsnews and @cbspolitics on Twitter, and the CBS News apps for mobile and connected TV platforms. There are also reports that Twitter is also looking for other deals with sports leagues that could draw viewers onto its platform. CBSN does not simulcast CBS News’ television broadcast.
The idea is to combine the event – in this case a convention – with the discussion of that event on Twitter.
“We don’t want anybody just to assume that we’re going to flip a switch and they’re going to be able to program to millions of people without any filter”, he said.
