Twitter starting 24/7 news stream with Bloomberg
It's a win for Twitter after the social media platform lost the rights to the NFL's Thursday Night Football.
Video is big business on social media, and Twitter is hoping to cash in alongside Bloomberg.
The social media platform is partnering with the financial media company to broadcast 24/7 news. The breaking news channel will will launch this fall, the parties said during Bloomberg Media's NewFront presentation in New York.
The stream will show live reports from Bloomberg journalists around the world, rather than mirroring the news outlet's TV programming. It'll also include some videos posted by Twitter users.
Twitter has long tried to dive deeper into the livestreaming game, signing a deal with the NFL in April last year to broadcast American football on its platform. However, Amazon managed to pry the ball out of Twitter's hands, scoring the rights to stream Thursday Night Football this upcoming season for a reported $50 million.
Twitter and Bloomberg teamed up to stream three US presidential debates last year. This new deal, however, appears less about getting Bloomberg viewers onto Twitter and more focused on picking up those who prefer not to get their news fix from TV.
"Twitter's speed and vast global network of content and commentary combined with the high quality, editorial rigor of Bloomberg is a unique and powerful combination, Twitter chief operating officer Anthony Noto said in a statement.
Social media advertising will be a $13 billion industry in the US alone this year, according to eMarketer. But Twitter has stiff competition, with Facebook, Snapchat and reigning king YouTube all gunning for the same prize.
Nonetheless, Twitter's ambitions in live video are starting to become more clear, said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. The company said last month it has collaborated on more than 40 livestream partnerships and has aired more than 800 hours of livestreaming content this year ranging from news to politics to entertainment.
"Conceptually, this relationship appears to have a lot of synergy," said Williamson about the Twitter-Bloomberg partnership. "However, I can't help but wonder how many Twitter users will want to watch this sort of 24/7 news coverage, or how many Bloomberg fans will turn to Twitter for what they don't already get from Bloomberg's various media properties?
"The overlap between the two audiences seems fairly limited to me, especially when compared to the mass appeal of the NFL," she added.
Twitter and Bloomberg didn't respond to requests for comment.
First published May 1, 3:01 a.m. PT.
Update, 2:36 p.m. PT: Adds comment from Twitter and background information.
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