Social media platform Twitter has seen a major engagement increase in relation to the National Football League and college football. This is expected to echo in the platform’s future revenues.
Twitter’s Change of Pace Proves Efficient
According to statistics provided by Twitter to Front Office Sports, each NFL game from the season has had over 250,000 posts dedicated to it, marking an 11% increase compared to the previous season. Additionally, the number of authors covering college football has gone up by a third.
The improved numbers are a result of Twitter’s change of strategy. Previously, the social outlet focused on live streaming full events but has since moved to other partnerships that better engage NFL fans. Twitter still provides some sports live streams but is stepping away from streaming full games.
“It’s not like “live” doesn’t exist with our partnerships, it’s just not necessarily the full game like it was in many of those early executions,” Twitter’s manager of US sports partnership, David Herman, said.
Herman gave Twitter’s deal with Fox Sports as an example – according to the deal, fans can vote on a camera angle for the first five minutes of the “Big Noon Saturday” match, which boosts engagement far more than a simple full live stream.
Thanks to its clever switch to a more engaging advertising approach, Twitter’s Q3 report showed that its monetizable daily active users have increased by 13% (currently 211 million) compared to Q3 2020.
Herman Believes Twitter Has a Bright Future in the Betting Sector
Since about half of the US states have adopted sports betting since its legalization a few years ago, the number of bettors has drastically increased. Herman believes Twitter can use this to its advantage. According to him, Twitter is a platform that is well-poised to play a part in gambling-related conversations. Herman explained:
“We’re live. We’re real-time. That’s what betting is. Betting and gambling have long been a core component of sports conversations on Twitter. Now things are legalized, more sports betting brands can be advertisers on Twitter than in the past and as leagues are partners with official betting operators, it’s getting more visibility and exposure daily.
US sports partnership, David Herman
He added that Twitter is always seeking to improve customer experience and wants to focus on betting content at some point. However, since half of the states are yet to legalize sports wagering, this seems to be a complicated matter. Herman explained that Twitter will continue evaluating the gambling sector before making significant moves.
Because of this, Twitter is yet to have an official betting partner. Instead, the social media outlet currently has advertising deals with some of the biggest names in the world of gambling, including BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel.
While Twitter is eyeing an official gambling partnership for the future, in the United Kingdom people aren’t as pleased by gambling ads on the platform. At the beginning of 2021, a group of former gambling addicts asked football clubs to take down their gambling ads from the platform.