Twitter app debuts on Apple TV, Xbox One
Amazon Fire also among devices with access to NFL games
Twitter is launching its app on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Microsoft’s Xbox One to give millions of users on those devices access to Twitter content, including Thursday night National Football League games live-streamed on Twitter.
It’s the latest effort from Twitter to entice more users and broaden its mainstream appeal with “live” programming such as content from Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Twitter is also fishing for more revenue. Livestreamed events help sell video ads, which typically command a premium as marketers slowly begin to shift some television ad dollars to the Internet.
Twitter acquired the rights to live-stream 10 NFL games on Thursday nights for about $10 million and to sell a portion of the ad inventory exclusively. Last season, each of the games drew an average 13 million viewers. Those games begin airing this week.
On Apple TV, viewers will be able to view live premium video and tweeted video clips in a sideby-side video experience.
“These devices will bring Twitter’s live streaming video experience to life on the TV screen,” Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer, said in an emailed statement. “Twitter has always been a great complement to TV, and now fans can enjoy even more premium video with live Tweets — and the best content on Twitter — right from their TVs.”
Speculation is growing that Twitter could become a takeover target. In July, Twitter chalked up another in a series of disappointing quarters, more evidence measures put in place by CEO Jack Dorsey over the past year have done little, if anything, to revive the struggling company’s fortunes. Dorsey is expected to be given a few more quarters to turn the company around, unnamed sources told CNBC last week.