Facebook has secured global partnerships with the NRL and AFL to showcase sports content across its video on-demand service.
The deal for Facebook Watch includes match highlights from the women’s and men’s games, live original programs, season classic matches and weekly wrap-up shows.
It comes following Facebook's deal earlier this week with Seven, which will see the TV network create original content for the social media platform.
“Each month 16 million Australians come together on the platform to connect and share with family and friends, and key sporting moments are regularly a focus of conversation,” Will Easton, MD of Facebook Australia, says.
“Sports fans on Facebook are one of the most highly engaged communities and these partnerships with the codes offer followers exciting content to engage with in new ways.”
Facebook Watch gives advertisers the option of non-skippable ads for up to 15 seconds, a format Naomi Shepherd, Facebook Australia director, says the industry has been asking for.
Joyee Biswas, head of sports partnerships APAC at Facebook, says partnerships with broadcasters, rights holders, clubs, leagues, athletes and content creators is key for Facebook Australia to strengthen its offering.
“These partnerships will bring new value to the industry by continuing to experiment and innovate with fan experiences aiming to redefine how fans gather and what sports community means in the digital age,” Biswas says.
Facebook is also working to extend its partnership with Cricket Australia, which allowed it to stream 36 of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) matches across Watch, along with original cricket content.
The sports bodies see the deals as a way to reach new and existing audiences.
“Our club members are increasing every year and our national and global audiences continue to diversify and consume their rugby league content where and when they want,” Andrew Abdo, NRL CCO, says.
“This is a fantastic opportunity to extend our reach and product offering across two social media platforms that reach billions of people every day.”
Anthony Everard, Cricket Australia’s executive GM of fan engagement, says its 2018/19 partnership with Facebook saw it lift viewership for the 36 WBBL matches.
“During one match between the Sydney Sixers and Brisbane Heat on December 22, we saw more than 1,200 concurrent viewers and more broadly, Facebook provided 31% of our ‘minutes viewed online’ metric for WBBL within Australia,” Everard says.
Beyond sports, content creator Jamie Zhu will launch a live talk show on Facebook, V13Ws, collaborating with musicians, artists, health and fitness experts.
Facebook isn’t the only social media platform to seek such sports deals. Twitter recently paired with the NRL to bring weekly recaps, previews and live content with NRL talent.
Optus also recently completed a deal that allows Twitter to live-stream six UEFA Europa League matches and YouTube four UEFA Champions League matches.
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