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It’s been a tough year for Twitter. The company’s stock is down more than 30 percent since a high reached in February, and earlier this year it settled an $809 million lawsuit brought against it for exaggerating the number of users on its platform.
But as more states launch legalized sports betting, and excitement for NFL and college football increases on Twitter, the company has an opportunity to supply content to fans and drive revenue. Could the San Francisco-based internet giant turn to formal partnerships with sportsbooks?
In an interview with Front Office Sports, David Herman, who oversees U.S. Sports Partnerships at Twitter, said his company is “consistently looking for new ways to enhance the user experience and at some point as it relates to betting, that could be great.”
While Herman is careful to explain Twitter faces challenges in regards to sports betting content, he sees the platform as well-positioned to capitalize on the sports betting surge.
“There are a lot of complicated components for us,”, Herman said. “There are only certain states where it’s legal so far, so we are still evaluating the space as a whole. ….
“Betting and gambling have long been a core component of sports conversations on Twitter,” he added. “Now things are legalized, more sports betting brands can be advertisers on Twitter than in the past and as leagues are partners with official betting operators, it’s getting more visibility and exposure on a daily basis.”
Football Is King On Twitter
Football is the primary revenue driver for sports betting in America. As a place where people share and produce content, as well as discuss topics, Twitter reflects the American love affair with football.
There’s a correlation between the interest in sports betting and football-related engagement on Twitter. Per Twitter data:
- The term “sports betting” is up 22% on Twitter Trends data this year, and “fantasy sports” has increased by 11%.
- For the average NFL game in the 2021 season, there has been an 11% increase for in-game Tweeting.
- There is now an average of 250,000 Tweets sent during an average NFL game.
- More than half (51%) of all sports-related video views on Twitter are of NFL-related content.
- Twitter reports a 114% increase in NCAA College Football-related video views on the platform compared to games from last season.
- Twitter has seen a 35% year-over-year jump in unique content about college football so far in 2021.
- One of the five biggest topics in sports tweeting this year has been the unexpected popularity of ESPN’s breakout hit “Monday Night Football” alternate broadcast with former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning.
What Will Twitter Do With All The Sports Betting Chirping?
Twitter has some significant sports content partnerships, and sports betting brands like DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel advertise on the site.
This season marks the fifth for Twitter’s partnership with Amazon on the “Thursday Night Football” live streaming broadcast. The company also broadcasts a popular college football poll each week in conjunction with Fox Sports called “Big Noon Saturday.”
Revenue has long been a sticking point for Twitter, a company that didn’t show a profit for more than four years after going public. But since their first profit reporting in February 2018, Twitter has still faced adversity top C-level executives, embroiling themselves in free speech and political controversies, engaging in a public fight with a sitting President of the United States, and facing that long lawsuit that just recently sucked more than $800 million out of their coffers.
The monetization strategy for Twitter has two avenues: ad revenue and data licensing. While the emphasis has usually been on the former, could Twitter end up being a bankable data mine for sportsbooks? According to Statista, Twitter has more than 77 million users in the U.S., and more than 300 million worldwide. If the company holds valuable information that could enable a betting partner or partners to reach and convert users, that could fetch a pretty payoff.
Or this could go the more predictable route: Twitter could enter into “official sports betting partner” relationships with operators and reap revenue that way. Or sell broadcast rights to sportsbooks or media companies to serve as a home base for sports betting content.
