World Class Faculty & Research / August 18, 2016

Why the NFL is Tapping into Twitter

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Twitter will stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this NFL season, creating "a top media story to watch," a panel of sports and media executives tells Sports Business Journal. “Along with the (NFL’s) pregame Periscope broadcasts, the Twitter offering will give the NFL additional insight into how fans choose to consume their sports and entertainment content,” says one of the experts, assistant professor Derrick Heggans at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former NFL front office employee and AOL sports executive. “The NFL got a snapshot of the opportunity when it worked with Yahoo to provide a global live stream of a regular season game last season, without requiring authentication.” 

Last season's Yahoo live stream of the Buffalo Bills-Jacksonville Jaguars matchup in London arguably did not feature marquee teams. And viewers complained that parts of the game buffered or were pixilated. Nonetheless, industry observers said the the first-ever live streaming by the NFL of one of its regular season games yielded “big numbers," including 15.2 million unique viewers and 33.6 million video streams. For this season, Twitter is negotiating to tap into millions of Apple TV subscribers — in addition to the more than 800 million registered and non-registered Twitter users worldwide on mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TV. "The Twitter partnership will show (the NFL) how certain demographics actively engage with properties, insights not only of value to the league, but its corporate partners looking for new and innovative ways to activate," Heggans says.

Among different roles during his 1998-2004 NFL tenure, Heggans served the Office of the Commissioner as Assistant Counsel for Broadcast Operations and Policy. He recently joined Smith’s Department of Logistics, Business and Public Policy and is faculty director of the Smith-hosted Maryland Sports Business Academy. He also founded Team Turnaround, a nonprofit focused on underserved communities, with ambassadors including retired pro athletes Grant Hill and Tony Gonzalez.

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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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