Twitter hosts private event with NBCU, other media partners during NewFronts

Twitter showed up at the NewFronts this week after all, with a private event at its New York office to talk about its ongoing relationship with NBCUniversal and other media partners. During the event, the company announced it is bringing back livestreaming, a la Periscope, the video app it once owned and then shuttered. Joe Varvara, Twitter’s head of global partnerships, led the advertising meeting on Twitter’s office rooftop today. Twitter and NBCU announced extensions of their Olympics deal, in which the TV network uploads videos to Twitter and sells ad space to major sponsors. No sponsors were announced as of yet. NBCU said in an announcement that its Paris 2024 coverage would include live Twitter video moments, which is a feature that was discarded in 2021 when Twitter ditched Periscope. Upfronts and NewFronts blog Tracking the latest TV and digital ad pitches Read more here Twitter owner Elon Musk teased live streaming on Tuesday with a grainy, low-resolution video. Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal, noted the low-quality stream but still welcomed the potential of live streaming in a tweet today: “Hey, @elonmusk, here’s an idea for our new partnership: Periscope for Paris 2024. Let’s just go hi-res first,” Yaccarino posted with a winking emoji. Hey @elonmusk here’s an idea for our new partnership: Periscope for #Paris2024. Let’s just go hi-res first…😉 🇺🇸🇫🇷🥇 https://t.co/Np7Bz709cv pic.twitter.com/24KTknXVJi— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) May 3, 2023 Musk and NBCU have maintained a tight relationship over the six months since he bought Twitter, even as some business relationships have soured. Last month, Musk and Yaccarino held a discussion at Possible, an industry event tied to MMA Global, the mobile marketing trade group. Yaccarino has referred to Twitter as NBCU’s largest partner, as the platform is a place for sports clips, news and entertainment. Read more: Linda Yaccarino, TV's partnership power broker At the ad event, Twitter discussed other media and sports partners, including MLB, NFL, F1, Billboard and Bloomberg, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Twitter declined to comment on the presentation. These are all holdover relationships from before Musk bought Twitter. The media and sports companies often post small clips, and sometimes longer content, to run with ads. Advertisers work with the publishers because their content is considered safer than the wilds of the Twitter feed. Other digital platforms have similar deals with publishers, and TikTok announced a similar program this week with NBCU and others. Twitter’s event was invite-only, and IAB was not immediately available for comment about whether it was involved in the makeshift meeting. Musk and Yaccarino were not in attendance. While Twitter has retained some premium publishers, Musk has fought with others, including NPR, PBS, BBC and The New York Times. Musk reportedly threatened NPR to return to tweeting or he would give away their account. NPR left Twitter in protest after Musk labeled the media brand as “state-affiliated,” which the news organization said is inaccurate and misleads audiences. Musk has also gone toe-to-toe with advertisers that backed away from the platform, concerned about his management after he first took over. A large wave of brands and ad agencies dropped off Twitter in the weeks after Musk took over, but some have come back, especially during peak sports moments such as the Super Bowl. Twitter and marketing Tracking updates during Elon Musk's ownership Get the latest news here

Twitter hosts private event with NBCU, other media partners during NewFronts

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