Twitter Wants To Be The Go-To Source For Live Video Content

By Entrepreneur Middle East Staff | May 03, 2017
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Given that video was reported to be the largest contributor to Twitter’s advertising revenue as per the social media company’s results for the first quarter of 2017, Twitter is betting big on the powerful combination of news content and video platform. The company announced partnerships with over a dozen organizations including Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, The Verge, and Cheddar for original live news content, Viacom for live stream of award shows, Live Nation and IMG Fashion for streaming concerts and fashion shows, and even sports broadcasts through partnerships with Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and others.

Announcing the tie-ups at this year’s NewFronts conference, an annual gathering where media companies showcase their digital strategies, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also took to the stage, appearing in a live interview with Bloomberg founder Mike Bloomberg to discuss the 24*7 news streaming collaboration. While the editorial partners will hold control over content, The Wall Street Journal reports that the focus of the partnership is to develop original content (and not just rebroadcast content that originally appeared in the respective media), exclusively for the Twitter platform.

Collaborating with industry-leading media brands, Twitter aims to take its live streaming ambitions a notch higher, engaging its growing user base with original content, and hoping to attract digital advertisers to the platform. This announcement by Twitter comes just days after its latest quarterly report, which surprised analysts. Twitter had reported almost US$548 million in revenue, and also clocked an increase in the number of monthly active users, which stands at 328 million users.

Post the results and the partnerships, Twitter’s shares have also seen a spike, rising almost 6% on the day of the announcements. With competitors like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram having moved early, and as a result dominating the video marketing space today, it remains to be seen if Twitter will crack the formula for commercial success with its latest video-heavy strategy.

Related: Three Steps To Creating Awesome Social Video Content

Given that video was reported to be the largest contributor to Twitter’s advertising revenue as per the social media company’s results for the first quarter of 2017, Twitter is betting big on the powerful combination of news content and video platform. The company announced partnerships with over a dozen organizations including Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, The Verge, and Cheddar for original live news content, Viacom for live stream of award shows, Live Nation and IMG Fashion for streaming concerts and fashion shows, and even sports broadcasts through partnerships with Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) and others.

Announcing the tie-ups at this year’s NewFronts conference, an annual gathering where media companies showcase their digital strategies, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also took to the stage, appearing in a live interview with Bloomberg founder Mike Bloomberg to discuss the 24*7 news streaming collaboration. While the editorial partners will hold control over content, The Wall Street Journal reports that the focus of the partnership is to develop original content (and not just rebroadcast content that originally appeared in the respective media), exclusively for the Twitter platform.

Collaborating with industry-leading media brands, Twitter aims to take its live streaming ambitions a notch higher, engaging its growing user base with original content, and hoping to attract digital advertisers to the platform. This announcement by Twitter comes just days after its latest quarterly report, which surprised analysts. Twitter had reported almost US$548 million in revenue, and also clocked an increase in the number of monthly active users, which stands at 328 million users.

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