NBC Pacts With Twitter For Exclusive 2020 Tokyo Olympics Live Programming

NBC will boost its Olympics push on Twitter next year, under a new partnership that will include a 20-minute daily studio show live from Tokyo produced exclusively for the social network.

Content under the deal — available to users only in the U.S. — also encompasses a daily poll that will allow fans on Twitter to choose one live-streaming look-in to NBC’s primetime broadcasts each night, along with video highlights throughout each competition day.

Under the deal, NBC will lead sales with Twitter providing “sales resources.” All content will live on the @NBCOlympics handle on Twitter and sold as Twitter in-stream sponsorships by NBC Olympics. Overall, NBCU expects to sell more than $1.2 billion in advertising over the 17-day run of the 2020 Olympics, which kick off July 24 and end Aug. 9.

NBC has previously worked with Twitter to promote content from the last four Olympic Games and is stepping it up for Tokyo next year. For the broadcaster, the deal is designed to amp up interest in the 2020 Olympic Games in general — and push people to watch full coverage on NBC’s own platforms — and it’s also a source of incremental ad revenue.

“We have had a long and effective Olympic relationship with Twitter, which provides a perfect complement to our coverage and is an ideal platform for the massive social conversation that occurs during every Olympic Games,” Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, said in a statement.

The NBC Olympics-produced 20-minute original studio program live from Tokyo will focus on highlights, athlete interviews, and events in and around the city, as well as some of the top reactions to Olympic events on Twitter.

As Twitter has done with the NBA and other media partners, under the NBC deal users will be able to vote on what they Olympics live video they want to see: Fans can vote in a daily poll on which athlete, sport, or moment they’d like to watch on Twitter from NBC Olympics’ Primetime or Primetime Plus coverage. In addition, NBC Olympics will distribute highlights during each day on Twitter, including the opening and closing ceremonies.

Beginning in February 2020, NBC will provide Twitter real-time highlights of its Olympic sport coverage, including the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, leading up to the main event next summer.

“A seminal event like the Olympics offered us the opportunity to think bigger and more robustly about how fans can engage in and around the world-class content that the NBC Olympics team will be bringing to bear,” said Kay Madati, global VP and head of content partnerships at Twitter.

NBCU holds owns U.S. media rights on all platforms to all Olympic Games through 2032. The broadcaster has produced every Olympic Summer Games since 1998 and every Winter Games since 2002.

Source: Read Full Article