Twitter has signed a deal with Sky Sports to show Premier League highlights and goals on the social media site from the 2016/17 season.
As part of the agreement, Twitter users in the UK and Ireland will be able to see video clips of key moments and goals from all games broadcast by Sky in real time via the SkyFootball Twitter account.
The Sky Sports Football Centre app will also carry full highlights of every Premier League and Football League match for Sky Sports TV customers, including those shown on BT Sport after those games have ended.
Twitter users and Sky Sports subscribers in Ireland will also be able to see video content in real time from the Saturday 3pm games, which are traditionally not shown on TV.
Twitter’s Theo Luke said of the deal: “We can’t think of a better way to continue the momentous summer of sport on Twitter than live Premier League video clips.
“Sky Sports are incredibly innovative on Twitter so it seemed like a natural fit to work with them to bring fans the most sought after action in sport, in an instant.”
This latest announcement extends Twitter’s growing presence in the world of sport, with the social media platform having already run a similar highlights package during Euro 2016 and offered live and behind-the-scenes coverage of this year’s Wimbledon via its live streaming service, Periscope.
Twitter has faced extensive questions over its future when in competition with other social platforms, including Facebook, which has more than 1.6 billion monthly users compared with Twitter’s 310 million. Many regard the service as too confusing and Twitter has spent much of the last year working on improving its video content and live streaming abilities in order to appeal to new users.
David Gibbs, digital director of Sky Sports and Sky News, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Twitter to bring in-game clips to football fans across the UK and Ireland as part of our biggest ever season of football.
“With more than 30 million users across a variety of platforms, Sky Sports is already the number one digital destination for sports in the UK. By expanding our partnership with Twitter, we can bring even more great action to an even bigger audience.”
