The NFL and Twitter have renewed their content partnership — which dates to 2013 — and are now kicking their collaboration into live audio.
Under the multiyear deal extension, the NFL is making a full-season commitment to produce exclusive content on Twitter Spaces, the social network’s new live-audio feature. The NFL is the first sports league to partner with Twitter to offer sponsored Twitter Spaces, with plans for more than 20 Spaces for the upcoming 2021 season.
The NFL’s Twitter Spaces will be available throughout the season, as well as in conjunction with the league’s tentpole events including the Super Bowl and the NFL Draft. The sessions will include participation from current NFL players and other NFL talent, discussing key matchups and providing analysis. Of note, the NFL was the first sports league to team with Clubhouse, the live-audio chat app startup that is being challenged by copycat features from Twitter, Facebook and Spotify.
“The commitment to Twitter Spaces represents another innovative step forward in the longstanding partnership between the NFL and Twitter,” Blake Stuchin, the NFL’s VP of digital media business development, said. “We’re excited to bring NFL fans a new way to engage with live audio ahead of our biggest events of the year and every week throughout the NFL season.”
Under the deal renewal, Twitter will continue to host NFL games’ highlights — including all touchdowns and notable plays right after they happen — as well as on-field coverage from season kickoff to the Super Bowl. Twitter also will feature sponsorable curated videos with recaps of the best touchdowns, highlights and tweets each week of the regular season.
In addition, the NFL will expand its use of Twitter Polls, to invite fans to vote each week on the hottest topics and takes lighting up the pro-football Twittersphere.
“We’re excited to super-serve NFL fans with even more of what they love to see on Twitter, including epic touchdown highlights all season long,” said TJ Adeshola, Twitter’s head of U.S. sports partnerships. “In addition to fueling the timeline with the best moments from each game in real time, we’ll be doubling down on innovation by leveraging our live audio format, ‘Spaces’, to bring fans even closer to the game.”
