Here’s how you can watch the Wimbledon final live on Twitter
Tennis fans will be able to easily watch Wimbledon online as Twitter is live streaming sports for the first time with live coverage of the British tennis tournament – a new feature that follows a digital rights deal to show NFL football games earlier this year.
The social network is testing out the new video streaming feature with a page dedicated to the live stream sitting alongside tweets about the event, including the final showdown between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic in the mens final.
The footage is from ESPN, the official holder of US broadcast rights as part of a 12-year £300m deal signed in 2011, and also includes related tweets beneath the broadcast which are hashtagged #Wimbledon.
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Twitter has sought to introduce several new features in recent months amid slowing user growth.
The latest move was met with a largely positive response including Twitter investor Chirs Sacca, who called it "serious progress".
https://twitter.com/sacca/status/750677955152531461
Ross Gerber, chief executive of investment advisor Gerber Kawasaki said: "I like this from Twitter. I don't know if people will watch sports for long on a phone. We shall see.
I like this from #Twitter. I don't know if people will watch sports for long on a phone. We shall see. $twtr #sportshttps://t.co/dh3LyMu91B
— Ross Gerber (@GerberKawasaki) July 6, 2016
Meanwhile, analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw research, pointed towards areas for Twitter to build on.
Feels like what Twitter Wimbledon UI needs is a filter and/or slider for the tweets. Too much noise / not curated enough.
— Jan Dawson (@jandawson) July 6, 2016
Twitter paid $10m for the NFL broadcast rights which are scheduled to begin from August.
The social network is among several social and digital channels used by the All England Lawn Tennis Club to promote the tennis tournament and reach a younger audience.
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It inked a three-year deal with Snapchat to showcase stories from the event earlier this year.
It also has a presence on Japanese messaging app Line, and China's Weibo and WeChat beyond the usual social accounts favoured by brands such as Instagram and Twitter.