The battle to be the destination for live video content rages on as Twitter has decided to step up its live streaming strategy and allow the media to bypass the normal planning phase it must take when broadcasters want to do a partnered stream on the company’s site. The social media giant is going to allow firms to use its API for live streaming to directly post on Twitter whenever they want and avoid using Periscope as most broadcasters do now. The change planned to go into effect next week is great for everyone involved as news and sports organizations content will be easier to discover with an exclusive live feed page and brings Twitter video up to par with Facebook, minus 360 videos.
The move is no surprise as Twitter has made several deals over the last couple years to put itself in this position. Yesterday it announced that it secured National Lacrosse League games for 2017 and 2018 which finally gives the league a chance to be noticed by millions of people as it currently has no TV deal. Twitter also has other deals in place as well such as spending $10 million to stream Thursday Night Football and eSports. In February it also teamed up with Showtime to bring boxing to the site when it streamed Adrien Broner vs Adrian Granados. Continued success with live streaming events will ensure more deals will land on Twitter.
This will put the company in direct competition with Facebook who has been making moves itself including a deal with Univision to stream Major League Soccer in 2017 as well as a potential partnership with Major League Baseball to stream one game a week on the site. The biggest advantage Twitter will have over Facebook with its live streaming is it doesn’t require you to log in or even have an account as you can watch straight from the site. In addition to the news, Twitter also revealed that has a few partnerships with companies that will support back-end services for live streaming. The company gave no indication if content streamed using this API would mean it would be exclusive to Twitter so we will have to wait and see.