NFL's 1st Twitter Stream Scores Touchdown With Fans
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The reviews are in for the first of ten Thursday Night Football games streamed live on Twitter and overall, viewers seemed pleased.
"The actual quality of the picture and the streaming I hear was excellent," says Temple professor Matt Fine. "I think the NFL wants to reach globally, Twitter wants to continue to try to reach millennial, the younger crowd and try to figure out ways to get them jazzed up about their product."
Twitter streamed the Jets vs. Bills game (recap) on its mobile app (at Twitter.com), and on some partner sites like Sports Illustrated and on Apple TV.
It's not clear yet how many people watched the stream on a smartphone, tablet or laptop, but Fine says don't expect it to go away any time soon:
"And I bet in the future, in the not too distant future, you're going to see other sports do the exact same thing."
"Has it changed the game," asks Temple Senior Associate Athletic Director for communications Larry Dougherty, "yes, to a degree, but it's just an evolution of where providing content to fans is going."
Dougherty says sports social media and live streaming is a natural combination:
"How people view everything is changing. Technology has changed the game and now that the NFL is allowing live free streams on social media I think is another example of that."
Because Twitter is a place for dual screen viewing, it did offer the option of seeing a feed of tweets alongside the game.
Twitter is reportedly paying the NFL $10 million for social media streaming rights, beating the likes of Amazon, Verizon and Facebook to secure those rights.
The feed will be available for select Thursday night games throughout the season. Next up: the Texans vs.Patriots game on Sept 22nd.
