Facebook Inks Multi-Year Deal With NFL to Distribute Game Highlights, Recaps
Facebook has just entered into a multi-year programming deal with the National Football League that will allow the social network to distribute game highlights and recaps from the NFL's 256 regular season games as well as its playoffs and the Super Bowl. Both companies confirmed the deal on the morning of Sept. 27.
The NFL revealed that all the videos and recaps to be distributed by Facebook will be made available to all users of the social media platform around the world. Aside from the footage from the NFL games, the media division of the league will also allow Facebook to distribute other content, including those from its production arm NFL Films, through its recently-launched Watch platform.
Since the deal has just been firmed up, it has limitations. One of those is that since Facebook Watch is only available in the U.S. at this point, only Facebook users in the U.S. will have the opportunity to watch "NFL Turning Point," "Sound FX' and "NFL Game Recaps" every week. However, the NFL explained that Facebook users from the rest of the world will still be able to watch the said programs on their official pages on Facebook.
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In a statement, NFL Media chief operating officer Hans Schroeder said, "We have millions of fans on Facebook, and they continue to demonstrate an incredible appetite for NFL content."
He then added: "We're excited to bring a compelling set of highlights and shows from the NFL and our clubs to our fans on Facebook.
The newly-signed deal appears to be a result of NFL's plan to expand its network using social media, and the agreement with Facebook was not the first deal the league has signed this year. In its previous run, the NFL also inked a $10-million deal with Twitter so that the microblogging site could live stream one of NFL's shows, "Thursday Night Football." However, the same deal also ended this year when Amazon entered into a $50-million agreement with the NFL to distribute its games for free to all Amazon Prime subscribers.
