Audio Video News

Twitter announced yesterday that it will live stream weekly out-of-market games from Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL).

The games will be available free to Twitter users in the U.S. whether they are logged-in or not. MLB games also will be available worldwide, except in select international territories.

Twitter also will live stream “The Rally,” the first-of-its-kind nightly program produced by 120 Sports to deliver highlights and expert perspective. Available only in the U.S., the program is designed to integrate with Twitter's platform, using Twitter-based data to determine live trending topics as well as adding other interactive elements for instant conversation and analysis of the moments that matter to sports fans. Coverage will span professional and college sports as well as the Olympics.

"Twitter is the fastest way to see what's unfolding in MLB and the NHL," said Anthony Noto, Twitter's chief financial officer. "MLBAM has pioneered streaming live digital video and we could not be more excited to partner with them on live games as well as 'The Rally', giving our audience the live sports events they are already talking about on one screen on Twitter."

"'The Rally'" on Twitter will combine the production and editorial values of television with the speed and interactivity of digital media," said Jason Coyle, 120 Sports president. "We are excited to bring this first-of-its-kind programming to Twitter as we continue the push of 120 Sports beyond the limitations of traditional media, infusing real-time, scaled fan sentiment and feedback into the sports conversation every night."

Twitter announced a deal with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football in April and kicked off live sports streaming with coverage of Wimbledon earlier this month.

In a letter to shareholders in April, Twitter management wrote: “We expanded our three-year relationship with the NFL to include livestreaming of 10 Thursday Night Football games. In the deal, Twitter controls some of the video ads in the live stream, pre-game, and post-game content. The demand from the marketing community has been strong, and as a result, we expect to access new online video budgets. In fact, we already have a Fortune 50 advertiser committed to advertising in the live stream with many more expected in the coming months.”