Twitter (TWTR) Pushing Hard To Stream Sports, In Talks With NBA, MLS, And Turner Sports

Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) is looking to stream more TV-like video with major sporting events, and is approaching those who control the rights to make a deal happen. The social media company is reportedly in talks with the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, and cable network Turner regarding acquiring digital streaming rights for content related to live sports and sporting events.

The deals Twitter are in talks about could include things like actual game footage, like in the deal the company made with the National Football League for the upcoming season, where it will be able to live-stream some Thursday Night Football games. Or a possible deal could include rights to fringe content, like pre- or post-game material, like interviews or analysis. Twitter just earlier this week live-streamed such content from Wimbledon, where it wasn’t able to stream live matches due to ESPN’s control over those rights.

Twitter apparently has already struck sports rights deals with the likes of the NBA, MLB, and the NCAA. The company is turning its attention now to gain rights from Turner, as the cable network has its owns eSports league, and broadcasts video game competitions, which would likely be a good fit to stream on Twitter’s platform.

Why Does It Matter?

Twitter’s user base growth has stalled in recent months, with social media users turning their attention towards Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) , Instagram and Snapchat. Twitter is hopeful that if it can gain the rights to major sports content, that it could jump start growth in its user base again.

The one major problem Twitter will likely face though is attracting those sports leagues to give the social media platform the rights to content. This is because unlike most cable providers or other streaming services, Twitter users do not pay a subscription fee to use the platform, nor do they pay for streaming content. A different platform with subscription fees like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) or Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime may make more sense as a partner to the different sports leagues, as they would likely be able to offer more for the rights to content.

Bottom Line

If Twitter is able to find a niche spot where it streams pre- and post-game interviews, game analysis, or serve as a kind of event promoter, digital streaming of sporting events could be a big plus for the company. While the concept is still in the early stages of development, as Twitter looks to gain the rights to more and more events, it will be interesting to see if the streaming of sports content helps to boost the company back to higher levels of usage and growth.