The Fox Sports division of US network Fox has announced an initial six-month partnership with Facebook that will allow data and chatter from the social media website to appear alongside live NFL and college American football broadcasts, as well as soccer games.
The Mashable website said Fox Sports will utilise Facebook data to provide supplemental real-time social analysis to its live broadcasts.
This will include Facebook viewer polls on a certain team or game, the ability to allow viewers to pose questions during broadcasts and the provision of a real-time stream of user conversations in areas like the ticker.
A Facebook spokesperson said the deal is purely content-related and includes no financial aspect for either party.
“We are excited to be the first sports broadcaster to take advantage of this rich data set that Facebook is making available to media partners,” Pete Vlastelica, senior vice-president of Fox Sports Digital, said. “The goal is to use it to create great content and enhance our telecasts to serve our audience.”
The opening weekend of the new NFL season saw around 30 million Facebook users generate over 60 million league-related interactions.
The Baltimore Ravens’ win over the San Francisco 49ers in February’s Super Bowl generated 250 million interactions.