It looks as if Facebook is throwing its hat into the professional world of sports. The social media giant is reportedly in talks with the MLB to live stream one game a week.
This would be a game changer for sports fans around the world (pun intended.) After all, sports are some of the only programming that people still prefer to watch live. Reuters reports: “Facebook has pushed to sign deals with owners of sports rights to live stream their games, going after an audience that competitor Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is also trying to capture, according to sports media consultants.”
“Facebook is aggressively going after sports content and they are now one of a number of competitors to traditional media outlets that are going after sports programming,” said sports media consultant Lee Berke. “It makes perfect sense that they would be going after name brand properties like the MLB.”
It is unclear which games Facebook would stream. However, what is clear is the wide audience the social media giant would be able to reach. Even better, this deal would attract many younger viewers. It is this very reason that Facebook has already reached a partnership with Univision to stream live soccer matches.
“The size of Facebook’s reach was a big reason Univision Communications Inc [UVN.UL] decided to use Facebook Live to live stream Mexican soccer matches in English,” said Tonia O’Connor chief commercial officer and president of content distribution at Univision.
Twitter is already in agreement with the National Football League. So, now is the perfect time for Facebook to enter a new professional sports partnership.
What do you think? Would you watch live games on Facebook?
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