Sports Partnerships a Plenty at Twitter's Digital Content NewFronts NFL, ESPN, MLS, Blizzard Entertainment, House of Highlights, and The Players Tribune all unveil live video plans with the social giant By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - 2:37 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
Twitter had a busy day on Monday in New York City as it unveiled the plans for a laundry list of new and expanded media partnerships at its Digital Content NewFronts at the Terminal 5 concert hall. Naturally, major sports entities were a significant part of the lineup, with noteworthy live video plans set to hit the social media platform from the likes of the NFL and MLS on the league front and ESPN, Bleacher Report, and The Players' Tribune on the media side.
Twitter hosted its Digital Content New Fronts on Monday at Terminal 5 in New York City.
As one of Twitter's long-standing sports partners, the NFL committed to another multiyear extension that will continue to push NFL highlights across league and team accounts. On the live end, expect more new studio-like shows anchored around NFL tentpole events like Kickoff, Thanksgiving, the Playoffs, Super Bowl, and the Draft. Those shows were pitched as highly interactive and, in some cases, featuring direct Q&A with the viewing audience.
MLS, meanwhile, has been one of the major sports leagues most aggressive with pushing live match content out across various social media platforms, and now Twitter will be no different. MLS's content agreement ropes in its broadcast partners from Univision Deportes to deliver a comprehensive (TBA) slate of live matches in English on both the @MLS and @UnivisionSports accounts. Naturally, MLS will also share every goal on Twitter and will continue to try new things on the live studio front.
Not to be lost in the mix is esports. When Blizzard Entertainment hosts its massive BlizzCon event in November, Twitter will carry live coverage of the opening ceremony and various live broadcasts from the event. There will also be exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews, highlights of game-developer panels, esports tournaments, and more.
Aligning with premium video content on Twitter is the way for brands to move at the speed of culture and connect to the most valuable audiences when they are most receptive, says Sarah Personette, VP of Twitter Global Client Solutions. Cultural resonance is not only critical, but it delivers results for marketers who want to launch something new and connect with what's happening.
As for media companies and publishers, The Players' Tribune led the way with the announcement of what it considers to be the next-generation of the sports talk show, called Don't @ Me. The show was pitched at the NewFronts as an interactive live broadcast featuring two athletes battling out every Greatest of All Time' topic under the sun, with the Twitter community jumping in. The Twitter Sports team will collaborate with The Players' Tribune to determine the debated topics that fit the current conversational narrative taking place on the social platform. During the stream, fans will have the opportunity to engage with the athletes on screen.
ESPN was also in the mix with ESPN Onsite, a branded effort that will see ESPN programming hit the road from various locations more often. Over the next year, ESPN Onsite will integrate in live shows from teams behind The College Football Show, Hoop Streams, Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, and MLS Countdown Live. ESPN Onsite branding will also be featured across much of the programming that will hit Twitter surround other major tentpole sporting events like the Super Bowl, College Football Championship, NBA All-Star, and much more.
And it wouldn't be a conversation about the cross-section of digital and social sports without Bleacher Report's House of Highlights. The brand's live Twitter show will be returning for a second season with star athletes and celebrities joining HoH founder and host Omar Raja. As in its first season, the show is served heavily by Twitter conversation and prioritizes the answering of questions from fans in the comments.
When you collaborate with the top publishers in the world, you can develop incredibly innovative ways to elevate premium content and bring new dimensions to the conversations that are already happening on Twitter, says Kay Madati, Global VP and Head of Content Partnerships for Twitter. Together with our partners, we developed this new slate of programming specifically for our audiences, and designed the content to fuel even more robust conversation on Twitter.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
21/04/2026
Cloud-based production isnt going anywhere, and BitFire is doubling down by prov...
21/04/2026
The topic of artificial intelligence has a stranglehold on the sports-video-prod...
21/04/2026
5G is still a hot topic in live event production, and this workflow continues to...
21/04/2026
At the 2026 NAB Show, Ed McGivern, GM and President of Appear US, discusses the ...
21/04/2026
Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has announced an on-premise AI suite designed for...
21/04/2026
Suite Studios has integrated its file-streaming technology into the newly announced Frame.io Drive, a desktop application from Adobe company Frame.io. The colla...
21/04/2026
Net Insight has integrated InSync Technology's FrameFormer into the Nimbra E...
21/04/2026
Fox Sports has selected Appear as a technology partner to support the next phase...
21/04/2026
Diversified has appointed Tyler Affolter as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the company's commercial organisation. The appointment follows the firm'...
21/04/2026
Layercake has formalised the integration of Bitmovin's video streaming infra...
21/04/2026
The International Judo Federation (IJF) has extended its distribution partnershi...
21/04/2026
Glookast has launched the Cinnafilm Tachyon plugin for its Media Producer and Me...
21/04/2026
Eutelsat has entered into an agreement with Cadena Tres, a division of Grupo Ima...
21/04/2026
Dolby Laboratories and TV Azteca have partnered to introduce Dolby Atmos immersive audio to free-to-air television broadcasts. The implementation utilises the A...
21/04/2026
FOX Entertainment partnered with Verizon to overcome significant production hurd...
21/04/2026
Osprey Video has announced its technology showcase for the NAB Show 2026, highli...
21/04/2026
Riedel Communications (Booth C4908) introduced a range of new solutions at NAB S...
21/04/2026
The NAB Show is in full swing, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams are chasing down the hottest stories from all over the Las Vegas Convention Center. He...
21/04/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the URSA Cine Immersive 100G, an immersive cinem...
21/04/2026
Clark Wire & Cable is continuing its evolution from cable supplier to full-scale solutions partner for broadcast and live production. At the 2026 NAB Show, we s...
21/04/2026
Rashad Frett attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Ricky at Eccles Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shut...
21/04/2026
Five years ago, Spotify arrived in Pakistan, opening a new chapter in the country's music scene. Since then, local listeners have explored across genres, ge...
21/04/2026
Since its launch in 2020, RADAR has been our program for spotlighting emerging artists around the world. This year marks the sixth edition of RADAR Spain, our o...
21/04/2026
Offers compact wireless solution for pedalboards
Taiwanese audio brand Cloudvocal have announced the availability of a new pedalboard-friendly wireless syst...
21/04/2026
Latest hybrid sampling/synthesis instrument arrives
Arturia's Augmented series offerings rely on a mixture of sampling and synthesis, allowing users to ...
21/04/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to host Power Electronics Online Conference From Design to Vali...
21/04/2026
MAS and Lockheed Martin partner to establish an F-35 depot in Canada, enabling in-country sustainment and creating high-skilled aerospace jobs....
21/04/2026
Advertising strategies shift as competition grows for a large, active and qualit...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/04/2026
Layercake Deepens Bitmovin Integration to Power End-to-End Media Orchestration w...
21/04/2026
Cobalt Digital Announces Launch of blueCORE at NAB Show 2026: Compact Powerhouse...
21/04/2026
On-Premise AI Suite from Studio Network Solutions Debuts at NAB Show 2026
Melanie Ciotti April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Unlimited processing, no cloud depe...
21/04/2026
London, 21 April 2026 IBC today announced the appointment of Tim Banham as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), a newly created role that reflects the or...
21/04/2026
Motion Design Tools - April 2026
Roland Kahlenberg April 21, 2026
0 Comments
Within 2 days, Maxon and Canva announced pro-level motion design apps - A...
21/04/2026
Chaos and Zero Density to Showcase Real-Time Ray Tracing for Virtual Studios and...
21/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
Sports Partnerships a Plenty at Twitter's Digital Content NewFronts NFL, ESPN, MLS, Blizzard Entertainment, House of Highlights, and The Players Tribune all unveil live video plans with the social giant By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
