Twitter goes head-to-head with Seven with live stream of Melbourne Cup
Social network Twitter is set to live stream next month’s Melbourne Cup, putting it in direct competition with the Seven Network’s coverage of the nation’s biggest horse race.
The deal is Twitter’s first foray into live sports streaming outside of the US, where it shocked traditional broadcasters by buying the rights to NFL’s Thursday Night Football fixtures. However, the social network has not bought the rights for the race, but is instead in a partnership with race owners, the Victorian Racing Club.
It will see Twitter carry a specially-produced hour-long live show created by Seven and commissioned the VRC which will be streamed globally to both its “logged in and logged out audience”.
If one of the core value propositions of FTA TV now and in the years to come is live sport, how does the distribution of these major events onto major social (or other major digital) platforms impact that value? I’m assuming Facebook will come to the party for streaming major sport events at some point as well. If the value of live sport is diluted this way, then it leaves the FTA broadcasters with reality and live news. Is that enough for them to be sustainable in the long-term?
WRONG! There is no revenue share between Twitter and Seven
I’ve always wanted to watch the great race on a three inch screen with a pair of headphones on. Said no one ever…