Dive Brief:

• The NFL and Snapchat have partnered to bring a Discover channel for the professional football league to the social media app this fall, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The deal makes the NFL the first pro sports league to have a channel on the Discover portal.
• The NFL plans to offer news analysis and behind-the-scenes footage on its Snapchat Discover channel.

Dive Insight:

Social media companies are striking deals with pro sports leagues left and right, with the hope that they can attract fans by becoming important second-screen activities before, during and after games. As consumers increasingly use digital devices for their everyday lives, sports leagues like the NFL are positioning themselves for a future where mobile and social become equally important channels for fans as traditional TV. 

The NFL has been especially active this offseason in making deals with social media companies. Along with the Snapchat deal, the NFL held an auction in April for the rights to live stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this fall. While the NFL allowed Yahoo to live stream a game played in London last year to better facilitate viewing by an international audience, this year Twitter will be the one live streaming NFL games online after winning the April auction.

Part of Snapchat’s deal with the NFL will be to create Live Stories on every game this coming season, as well as league events like the draft. Both the NFL and Snapchat will be selling ad inventory available on the Discovery channel and the shared Live Stories.

This fall, the NFL is betting that viewers and marketers will want to engage with the league on a second screen via the deals with Snapchat and Twitter. Sports is one of the final destination real-time viewing types of content for linear TV, which includes all the marketing opportunities that go along with that distinction.