I watched the game on the newest version of Apple TV with Twitter‘s spiffy new Apple TV app while following my personal Twitter feed on my iPhone, and Twitter’s streaming of the CBS broadcast was consistently 30-45 seconds behind the over-the-air network feed. Critics also pointed out that Yahoo auto-streamed the live video on yahoo.com and in several of its apps, which means many users who didn’t even intend to watch the game saw at least several minutes. It’s hoping that live video of sports and other events will help stimulate more interest in its service.
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The NFL scored big with Thursday night’s debut broadcast on Twitter.
Twitter scored 2.1 million unique viewers worldwide for its inaugural “Thursday Night Football” live stream, in which the New York Jets defeated the Buffalo Bills. Besides the football games, this includes content from the National Basketball Association and Bloomberg News.
The new service will be in partnership with the live and on demand video news network Cheddar. “By leaving all streaming issues to BAMTech, Twitter has been able to focus its resources on its core product and as last night showed, it has already created a seamless, one-stop-shop for sports fans”, said Dror Ginzberg, co-founder and CEO of digital video specialist Wochit, commenting on the agreement.
Appropriately named, Twitter on Xbox, this new Xbox app is not an alternate version of the smartphone or PC app that’s been simply resized for a TV screen.
What we still don’t know – and probably won’t know for some time – is whether these streams will generate any new users for Twitter.
The app is free on all platforms and users do not need a Twitter account or a cable or satellite subscription to watch HD streams.
Twitter, which is paying millions for each game, will also provide viewers with special sideline coverage before and after the game on its live video app, Periscope. And as an added bonus, the Apple TV app includes an exclusive side-by-side video feature, allowing viewers to enjoy live premium video and check out Tweeted video clips at the same time. The game broadcast was available on Amazon Fire TV and on Microsoft Xbox One in select countries and Apple TV globally through the Twitter app.
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The NFL struck a deal with Twitter in April to live stream the games. The deal also made Major League Baseball games available worldwide, except in some global territories.
