Just hours after March Madness ended, Twitter announced that it would be streaming ten 2016 Thursday night NFL games for free without requiring any form of authentication. As a cord cutter, this is making me extremely giddy.
The social media company outbid companies like Verizon and Amazon to secure rights to all the ten games. According to those who know better than we do, Twitter could afford to bid less than the $450 that NBC and CBS bid last January because their service is additive, not a replacement. The games will also still air on the NFL Network. It’s estimated to be at around $1 million per game versus the $15 million NBC and CBS paid per game.
Here’s a more in-depth rundown from NFLCommunications.com:
The National Football League (NFL) announced today that it has selected Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) as its exclusive partner to deliver a live OTT digital stream of Thursday Night Football to a global audience across devices and for free during the course of the 2016 NFL Regular Season. Twitter will stream the 10Thursday Night Football games broadcast by NBC and CBS, which will also be simulcast on NFL Network, securing the league’s “Tri-Cast” distribution model of broadcast (NBC/CBS), cable (NFL Network), and digital (Twitter).
Partners since 2013 through the Twitter Amplify program, the NFL and Twitter will provide free, live streaming video of Thursday Night Football without authentication to the over 800 Million registered and non-registered users worldwide on the Twitter platform on mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs.
The announcement was made on Twitter by the Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell.
https://twitter.com/nflcommish/status/717328210879336450
How To Watch NFL On Thursday With Twitter
According to CNNMoney, users will have to download the Twitter app on “on phones, tablets and Internet-connected TV sets.” We saw how easy it was to watch the Jaguars vs. the Bills in London on Yahoo’s own apps (stomaching the game was something else entirely), so it stands to reason that Twitter can do a similarly great job.
Even better is that you don’t need to log into your cable network or provider. Just sign into Twitter and you’re good to go.
