The promise of Twitter’s first NFL stream was that it would wipe away the need for a second screen, allowing users to watch the game and interact on social media via the same device. The reality, in some cases, is that Twitter’s NFL stream became the second stream. In my house, I watched MASN's Rays-Orioles game from the big screen and followed Jets-Bills on my MacBook. Sportsrocket Founder & CEO Brian Bedol had a similar experience. “I’m sitting on the couch watching (Netflix') ‘Narcos’ on TV with my wife and the NFL on Twitter on my lap,” he said Thursday night via Twitter Direct Message. “Great picture, cool experience. If you’re a sports fan, it’s time to get excited about the post-cable world.” All four of the media industry vets I asked for opinions, sounded surprised at the high quality of the video. “The clarity and resolution of the video stream on my iPad was ‘shockingly fabulous’ (a technical term,)” said longtime media exec Lou Borrelli via Facebook Messenger. “The platform flat-out outperformed, which is what you want.” Eric Weinberger, who heads up the Bill Simmons Media Group, simply texted: “The Twitter [stream] is so great.”
STILL WORK TO BE DONE: Not everything went smoothly with the Twitter debut last night. Personally, I did not like the curated tweets that ran alongside the game; I’d rather see my own feed. The fact that the game streamed on a several-minute delay rendered my real-time feed essentially useless. Borrelli: “It will be interesting to see how folks feel about it when they have access to the game on a real screen. ... The delay was loooooong and I didn't really look at the impact it has on real-time Twitter users.” Former CBS Digital exec Jason Kint watched the game while taking Amtrak’s Acela train from N.Y. to DC and said that Twitter’s streaming delays are a problem. “It’s the worst,” he tweeted. “Sports like awards shows is about shared moments and serendipity. Delays=bad.”
