Twitter signs livestreaming deal with NBA in Philippines

Twitter will livestream two exclusive NBA programmes and highlights of games to fans in the Philippines through a partnership with Globe. 

Globe will be the company’s first official livestream advertising partner in Asia. The announcement comes weeks after Live debuted in Australia with a two-hour video stream of the Melbourne Cup, which reached an audience nearly half the size of the day-long digital broadcast from the established broadcaster.

The two NBA shows are being specifically created for integration with Twitter. The Starters Twitter Show, produced by Turner Sports, streams once a week for an hour, while The Warmup, a weekly 30-minute programme, will be available even to users who are not logged into Twitter.

Amid struggling user growth, Twitter has made livestreaming video a priority. It has signed deals with the National Football League in the US and partnered with media companies on US election coverage.

In a recent interview with Campaign Asia-Pacific, Twitter VP Aliza Knox said that Live is accelerating revenue growth for the firm and remains its singled biggest area of focus.

“Twitter is where the world of sport is happening every single day, and the NBA is no exception,” said Maya Hari, Twitter’s MD for Southeast Asia and India. “90 percent of male Twitter users in the Philippines are interested in basketball, and 76 percent of them actively follow and watch the NBA. Our focus is to livestream premium content.”

Since the NBA joined Twitter in 2009, the league has built the largest Twitter community of any sports league in the world, with more than 23 million followers. The Philippines is one of the NBA's biggest international markets. It recently opened its fourth NBA Store in Cebu.

“Twitter’s livestream service allows us to strengthen our proposition to bring the best in sports to more Filipinos and in this case, more exclusive content on the NBA," said Dan Horan, Globe’s senior advisor for consumer business. "Customers are given a new platform where they can explore and get real-time updates about the league."