The deal will see Twitter stream 70 hours of live competition across 31 tournaments throughout the remainder of the 2016-17 season. It marks the second time the company has teamed up with the PGA Tour, having previously live-streamed parts of the 2016 FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The live broadcasts will begin on January 19 with the CareerBuilder Challenge and conclude with the season-ending Tour Championship. Coverage will generally include the first 60 to 90 minutes from the early Thursday and Friday morning action, which makes up the PGA Tour Live’s subscription broadcasts.
Both Twitter members and non-users will be able to watch all the coverage, including pregame analysis, interviews, range coverage, and live competition from the first two holes of the PGA Tour Live Marquee Groups.
In the vein of its NFL broadcasts, the PGA Tour live-streams will get their very own Twitter live URL, and will be shown on the official PGA Tour account. Additional content will include highlights videos on Periscope and Twitter as an extension of the PGA Tour and Twitter ‘s Amplify program. These clips will also allow the PGA Tour to grab advertising revenue through preroll video ads, midroll spots, and sponsorships and promotions. Twitter did not disclose the financial details of the deal.
“Our collaboration with the PGA Tour will provide fans all over the world access to watch live-streaming PGA Tour events on Twitter while following the conversation all on one screen,” said Anthony Noto, COO of Twitter.
The PGA Tour said the following about the expanded partnership: “Streaming PGA Tour Live programming to Twitter’s global audience, as well as the millions of users who follow @PGATOUR and hundreds of PGA Tour player accounts, will provide new and innovative ways for sports fans to engage with our premium … offering.”
With Twitter’s NFL live-streams coming to an end last month (with no word of a renewal), the new deal sees the social platform continue to focus on live sports coverage. On average, Twitter’s NFL viewership numbers fluctuated between 2.1 million and 3.1 million total views. In comparison, the NFL’s TV ratings during the 2016 regular season were 16.5 million on average per game (an 8 percent dip compared to 2015). Therefore, it’s easy to see why sports leagues are reaching out to social platforms in order to boost their content.
