Twitter stock is up fractionally in trading after the platform unveiled the launch of its free app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Microsoft’s Xbox One, which went live today. The news comes as Twitter prepares to debut its live-streaming of 10 NFL Thursday night games starting tomorrow with the New York Jets-Buffalo Bills matchup.
The app had been anticipated as Twitter seeks to become a force in video as it’s been struggling to sustain growth. The company, like its social media rival Facebook, covets the roughly $73 billion that advertisers spend each year on TV; in addition to the NFL, it has video-streaming deals with Major League Baseball, the NBA, the NHL, Pac-12 Networks, Campus Insiders, Cheddar and Bloomberg News.
Shares spiked almost 7% last month when the New York Times reported the Apple TV deal was near; the small gains today so far indicate the app deals were baked in to the price.
“Twitter has always been a great complement to TV, and now fans can enjoy even more premium video with live Tweets — and the best content on Twitter — right from their TVs,” Twitter CFO Anthony Noto said in announcing the app today. “We’re excited to introduce this new experience to people, without requiring a paywall or having to log in to Twitter.”
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