Twitter is growing its slate of original content deals, unveiling new and expanded partnerships with NBCUniversal, Billboard, MLB and the NHL, among others.
At its Newfront advertising event Wednesday, the Jack Dorsey-led social media giant announced an expanded deal with NBCUniversal, with an emphasis on news and sports content. On the sports side, NBC Olympics will create original live video shows for Twitter, including Talkin’ Tokyo, which will count Adam Rippon among its hosts.
NBCU will also host a daily poll letting Twitter followers vote to decide what events they would like to see live look-ins of.
On the news side, the NBC News Group brands will bring additional highlights, live streams, Twitter Q&As and exclusive content to the platform, and are allowing advertisers to partner on that content.
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Perhaps the most notable announcement Thursday was the creation of a new real-time Billboard chart, “The Billboard Hot Trending powered by Twitter.” The chart will track music-related trends and he songs being discussed on the platform. The chart will be supported by advertising on both Twitter and Billboard, with exclusive editorial and video content tied to the chart (Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter share a parent company: P-MRC).
Twitter also announced content deals with Genius, Tastemade and Refinery29, and expanded agreements with MLB and the NHL, which include real-time highlights and live look-ins at games.
The company is also seeking to bolster its video advertising business with a new pre-roll ad offering called Curated Categories. Curated Categories are sets of publishers that are bundled together around specific themes and niche topics. Some of the categories mentioned during the presentation included gaming personalities, health and wellness, and esports teams.
