Dive Brief:
- Twitter released apps for Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Xbox One, with the apps designed to broadcast Twitter’s live streaming video, Periscope streams, Vine posts and regular tweets, according to Marketing Land.
- The new apps come out just in time for Twitter’s live streaming of 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games this season, and will be free for end users and also accessible without a Twitter account.
- Other live streaming video — which Twitter refers to as live premium video to set it apart from Periscope content — include deals with other major professional sports organizations to stream games as well as original content and Bloomberg News broadcasts.
Dive Insight:
The move puts Twitter on a large number of TVs via the different streaming services and hardware right at a time when it’s making a major bet on live streaming video. By bringing elements of its basic service to TV as well, Twitter is expanding its audience reach. The move could have a positive impact on its advertising revenue given the access to a new audience that might not ever have visited the core desktop or mobile app version of the platform.
The video deals and live streaming apps increasingly position Twitter as a live TV viewing experience in its own right. Since Twitter is actively seeking premium streaming video deals, getting content on TV is a positive in terms of inking even more deals, making its existing partners happy and even giving its advertisers a new marketplace to reach.
Time will tell how investors and brands react to the various moves Twitter has been making, but it’s clearly attempting to expand its reach while retaining its basic user experience. Twitter's reinvention into a major live streaming player comes as it struggles with stagnating user growth and weak ad revenues.
