Last week, the NFL made a lot of news revolving around their draft, which has become an event that generates as much talk and buzz as the Super Bowl. There’s drama: fantasy draft, players moving up and down the rounds, scandals, analysts grading each team’s draft, a lot of emotion, and even more money.
All that hype may have obscured an interesting media tidbit that didn’t garner a lot of mainstream coverage when it was first released.
Twitter won the bidding war to stream the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” games live. As it turned out, they beat out Amazon and others for the right to streamcast these games. Ironically, Twitter reportedly offered a lower bid than Amazon, but was selected anyway.
So what were the NFL and Twitter thinking? Why would a social media platform famous for messaging in 140 characters or less be streaming these games, and paying handsomely (estimates are $10 million) for the right to do so.
First and foremost, Twitter is the most real-time of the social platforms, and has long been a “breaking news” source for many events.
Second, it has a magnetic appeal to sports fans. We’ve illustrated this over the past few years in our Techsurveys. There’s a strong connection between sports fanatics and Twitter.
When you look at our Sports Radio core group in our newest Techsurvey12, you can see that while more are on Facebook, Twitter is the #2 social network. And when it comes to “Time Spent Socializing” – or daily usage – the level for Sports is highest among all formats:
And finally, these NFL games will put Twitter on the map with millions of people who have avoided the platform altogether. It may be my personal social medium of choice, but for many others, Twitter has a certain image that is off-putting to many. It’s harder to make an mpact on Twitter, especially compared to Facebook. In the past couple years, Twitter has been drifting, struggling to attract new fans and regular usage. Carrying these highly popular Thursday night games will be a mega-cume builder for Twitter.
NFL commish Roger Goodell, famous for his draft hugs, gave Twitter a virtual one when the deal was announced.
This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this. https://t.co/s6tbr9FjvY
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) April 5, 2016
I believe I was involved with the first FM station to serve as the flagship station for an NFL team – the Kansas City Chiefs and KCFX back in 1989. At the time, The Fox was a fledgling Classic Rock station, still trying to find its footing. The Chiefs were the team in town, and carrying those games on Sunday afternoons, and the aura that came with the broadcasts elevated the station to higher heights. Today, it remains one of the highest rated stations in the market. And yes, they still are the Chiefs station more than 25 years later, making them the longest running FM radio partnership in the entire NFL.
I’ve also seen some dubious matchups with sports franchises and radio stations. It’s essential to know your audience before entering into multi-year, multi-million dollar deals that can make or break a brand. It’s why we do our Techsurveys – to help guide radio stations through the challenging strategic process.
In the case of Twitter, they are well aware of their strong sports connection. And for the NFL, they are one of the smartest marketing entities in the world. This partnership with Twitter is strategic and could likely spawn similar deals with other sports organizations and digital media outlets.
For Twitter, bidding for those NFL games was a no-brainer. In recent days, their stock price has hit an all-time low, so acquiring this Thursday night franchise may come just in time. In the same way the Chiefs provided that shot in the arm for a Classic Rock station in Kansas City all those years ago, Twitter is hoping for that same gridiron magic.
Are you ready for some football?
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Football Great. Twitter Very Good. Deflate Gate A Colossal Waste of time & money. More important proof positive issues to tackle! NFL puts the balls in play; they should only be kicked over the goalposts. Yes, I’m from Boston. http://www.broadcatideas.com
And we won’t hold that against you, Clark. Thanks for the comment.