As the NFL itself continues to go away from traditional television, those involved in the online streaming game are taking notice. We saw it last season when Twitter live-streamed 10 Thursday Night Football games for a total cost of $10 million.
It was a pretty solid deal for the social media site, one that brought more viewers to Twitter when games themselves were being streamed.
Now, it looks like Facebook, Amazon and YouTube are all attempting to get into the streaming action.
“Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are also hoping that NFL streaming rights will help grow their services with new viewers,” Cord Cutter News reported on Saturday. “Twitter saw great success in establishing its live streaming service off the back of the NFL streams.”
In addition to Twitter, the NFL won’t be awarding all three of these sites with the ability to stream games next season. Instead, the league is about to name a “winner” here in the next couple months.
It will be interesting to see who the NFL chooses for its next medium, but our money surely is on YouTube. After all, the league recently joined the NBA, MLB and NHL in posting highlights on the site. That in and of itself was a pretty big turnabout for a league that has not necessilary been about inclusivity.