Twitter will stream ELeague finals as it pushes to live esports broadcasting
Another one.
Twitter has inked yet another deal to live stream sports, adding to its roster of partnerships with the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and Pac-12.
But this one's a little more unconventional. Twitter has partnered with the ELeague to broadcast the semifinals and championship of the esports competition taking place in Atlanta this weekend.
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It will be the first esports event Twitter has partnered with for live coverage, the companies announced Thursday. ELeague is a professional sports league created by Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME | IMG that began televised on May 24. (Turner Broadcasting is an investor in Mashable.)
Twitter users will be able to watch the semifinals Friday at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. as well as the championship Saturday at 4 p.m. The video will display at the top of the Twitter feed along with related commentary posted on Twitter.
"Gamers are one of the largest and most engaged audiences on Twitter, and we are thrilled to partner with Turner and WME I IMG to bring them the live content from ELeague and Twitter commentary they are already looking for, all on one screen," Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto said in a statement.
ELeague will also post highlights and GIFs on its Twitter handle @EL during the game and use Twitter's live video app Periscope to broadcast behind-the-scene footage.
The games will also stream on Twitch, the Amazon-owned live-streaming network that specializes in live video gameplay, and TBS. Each of the systems will have commercials, which means Twitter will benefit from a new source in revenue. That's crucial given the company's disappointing earnings report earlier this week that led to its stock plummeting.
Twitter has already tested this new format of hosting live, made-for-TV video for Wimbledon and the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention. In the fall, the microblogging site will broadcast 10 of the NFL's Thursday night games.
Twitter has not disclosed data on its viewership.
Facebook has already beaten Twitter to the live-streaming esports punch. In June, the social networking giant teamed up with Activision-Blizzard to host programming of the Major League Gaming Anaheim Open, a two-day tournament of Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
