Twitter set for more streams
Associated Press
POSTED: 06/25/2016 05:31:25 PM PDT | UPDATED: ABOUT 5 HOURS AGO
Twitter is close to announcing deals to stream more live events, from sporting matches to political debates, after experiencing higher-than-expected demand for advertising for National Football League games it plans to air this season.
"You'll see other announcements around premium content from us soon," said Kayvon Beykpour, co-founder of Periscope, the live-streaming app that Twitter acquired in 2015 and has now embedded in the micro-blogging platform.
Twitter has sold about 50 percent of its NFL ad inventory and is meeting with clients this week at the Cannes Lions festival in France as it seeks to sell the remainder, according to a spokesman. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Nestle SA's DiGornio pizza and Sony Pictures Entertainment have already signed up, he said.
Twitter agreed in April to stream 10 NFL games live on Thursday nights for free during the 2016 season. Deals for other live events are close and will be announced within weeks, Beykpour said.
Such deals will move Twitter from the periphery to the center of the action during live events, Beykpour said in an interview at the festival on Wednesday.
"We've always been a second screen for people to interact with when they are watching TV," Beykpour said. Twitter "should also be a first screen," he said.
Revenue at Twitter is growing slower than expected, even as the company adds new products for social media advertising. With content deals and live streaming, the company will be able to tap into advertisers' online video budgets, competing with YouTube and Hulu.
Twitter earlier this week extended the time limit for regular users' videos, to 140 seconds, aiming to encourage more video sharing generally.
