Twitter partners up with NBC for live Tokyo 2020 Olympics coverage

Twitter’s live-streaming hasn’t been the success it would have hoped. Despite that, Social Media Today reports it’s about to try again with the 2020 Olympics. This is similar to what it did with the NBA – where they ran a poll with Twitter users to vote for a player they wanted to watch on a dedicated live-stream in the second half of the games.

The New York Times reports that Twitter signed an agreement with NBC to broadcast limited coverage from the 2020 Olympics:

"Each morning of the Olympics, fans will vote on which prime time live event or athlete they want to look in on - for about five minutes or less - that night on Twitter. It could be the final of the 100-meter dash, the floor routine of gymnast Simone Biles or something else."

Sports watchers choose TV over Twitter any game day?

The Olympics deal seems to be the latest attempt by Twitter to use live video to encourage even more sports discussion on the platform. That’s something it’s already great at doing. Research shows that 94% of people keep a smartphone around while watching TV, using ad breaks to join in the online discussion. Twitter is ideal for that and streaming should consolidate its status, but it’s not that simple.

Source: Twitter Inc

The problem seems to be that Twitter is trying to get people to give up their huge TV screens and do both their discussion and live viewing on a smaller smartphone screen.

What do people on here think?

I’m inclined to believe that this will work well for people forced to watch their sport on the move. For those who plan ahead and watch their favourite sports events at home – I’m not so sure.

Cover Photo Source: Twitter Inc