SAN FRANCISCO _ Twitter is stepping up its game when it comes to live streaming sports footage.
The San Francisco tech company said Monday it is teaming up with Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to stream out-of-market games once per week. Twitter also partnered with 120 Sports to broadcast a nightly show that includes highlights and comments from experts about multiple sports.
The deal is among a string of live video streaming partnerships Twitter has been striking with sports leagues and media outlets this year. The National Basketball Association announced last week that more live programming and video such as a weekly pre-game show will be streamed on Twitter. Pac-12 Networks and the National Football League have also teamed up with Twitter to live stream games.
Earlier this month, Twitter users got a sneak peek of what this new experience could look like with the company's coverage of Wimbledon.
These partnerships come as Twitter is trying to attract more users. The deals highlight its place among social media companies. The tech firm rolled out a new marketing campaign Monday to show that it's more than just a place to connect with friends and family members.
"Starting today, we're taking steps to express what we're for and what we've always been," Leslie Berland, Twitter's chief marketing officer, wrote in a blog post. "Twitter is where you go to see what's happening everywhere in the world right now. From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics _ from big events to everyday interests with all the live commentary that makes Twitter unique."
Twitter has received criticism in the past from investors who say the tech firm has failed to tell its own story.
But will live video be enough to revive the struggling social media company? Twitter, which has 310 million monthly active users, still faces competition from larger social media companies like Facebook.
"Twitter monetizes its user base at about half the rate of Facebook and we are not sure it can close the gap entirely," wrote Mark Mahaney, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets, in a note before the company's second-quarter earnings.
The company is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday afternoon. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predict that Twitter will report sales of $607 million and a loss of 17 cents per share from April to June. Excluding certain expenses, analysts expect Twitter to post earnings of 10 cents per share.
