Social media platform Twitter has further bolstered its sports portfolio by striking a partnership with Australian commercial broadcaster Seven for the forthcoming 2017 Australian Open tennis grand slam.
Seven is the Australian Open’s domestic rights partner and building on the broadcaster’s existing use of Twitter as a key distribution platform, the new partnership will enable it to deliver and monetise exclusive Tweet video highlights and content from the Melbourne tournament through @7Tennis.
Through Twitter’s Amplify platform, video Tweets shared by @7Tennis will include a replay of on-court action at the Open, with a short pre-roll ad from sponsors including ANZ, Kia Motors, Campari, the Gold Coast organising committee for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, This Australian Life and William Hill.
Blackmores, a content sponsor for this year’s Australian Open, will also work with Seven to create and tweet a range of ‘Conversational Video Ads’.
Clive Dickens, Seven West Media’s chief digital officer, said: “At Seven we believe that T.V. now stands for Total Video and Twitter is an essential platform of our 7everywhere product and strategy.”
The Australian Open partnership follows a similar deal between Twitter and Seven for the platform to stream live coverage of the 2016 Melbourne Cup horse racing event, which took place on November 1. The agreement marked the first time that Twitter streamed live coverage of a sporting event outside the US.
The 2017 Australian Open commences on Monday and runs through to January 29.