If it’s happening now, it should be on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). That was the message Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sent when he announced in April that the social media giant had won the rights to 10 games of the National Football League’s Thursday Night Football programing for the 2016 season.
Twitter stock, however, showed little excitement on the news as doubt emerged as to whether a Twitter-NFL combo could be successful. The company’s poor track record had a lot to do with that.
But following what was a successful Twitter NFL stream between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills on Thursday, is this the time to bet on Twitter stock?
TWTR stock has risen as much as 5% Friday, reaching a session high of $19.25 on above-average volume. Twitter’s coming out party with the NFL is not only likely to place the company on the map as a full-fledged media company, but may expand Twitter’s ability to secure more live streaming deals.
While Twitter has already secured deals with National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball, there was no bigger stage on Thursday than the NFL. And the fact that Twitter, which has tested various livestreams for content much less popular than NFL football games, made a successful launch shows the embattled tech company has now established some much-needed credibility.
Twitter Stock Sees Strong Advertising Interest
The question is, how can the San Francisco, Calif.-based company monetize its live-action success and drive TWTR stock higher? Twitter had previously disclosed it experienced “higher-than-expected demand for advertising” for the NFL games it plans to air this season. The company had reportedly sold about 50% of its NFL ad inventory as of the end of July. Since then, Twitter has offered no new updates.
What we do know is that the company should have been aggressively meeting with potential clients to sell whatever remaining advertising inventory it had left. Some of Twitter’s top advertisers include Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (ADR) (NYSE:BUD), Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) and DiGiornio pizza, which is owned by Nestle SA (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSRGY). Those are prime “football-related” advertisers, given the demographic that watches the NFL.
Will Twitter reveal key metrics related to the stream, including the number of people who watched the game and on what type of device? According to Recode, Twitter streamed Thursday’s game via its mobile app; on Twitter.com; on various partner sites, like SI.com; and on Apple Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Apple TV.
Not only would disclosing user metrics probably help TWTR stock, it would help elevate Twitter beyond the afterthought it has become when discussing advertising behemoths like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL).
TWTR has shelled out $10 million for the NFL rights, and it would seem the company is about to get a solid return on that investment. Accordingly, the long-term risk-versus-reward for the company has become more favorable.
And with the NFL on tap for nine more games, Twitter stock is poised to score many more touchdowns as it did Thursday.
As of this writing, Richard Saintvilus did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
