Twitter Includes ESPN, MLB In New Content Deals, Renewals

Twitter at its NewFronts presentation in N.Y. unveiled new content deals and renewals with 30 business partners, seeking to accelerate a premium video-based strategy first unveiled last year. Among the slate of new and expanded partnerships were ones with ESPN to create @SCLive, a Twitter-based take on ESPN’s flagship "SportsCenter" that will appear on Twitter Moments, and daily live streams of Fantasy Focus Live; another with MLB to create a new program based around the All-Star Game and postseason jewel events; and another with Barstool Sports to create an exclusive eight-episode video series called “Barstool Live.” Other entities included in the new slate of Twitter programming include F1, MLS, Bleacher Report and The Players' Tribune. “Twitter is the only place where conversation is tied to video and the biggest live moments,” said Twitter Global VP/Revenue & Content Partnerships Matt Derella. “That’s our superpower.”