*By Brittany Terrell*
Twitter's new slate of premium video content, nearly double what it offered last year, will include shows by some of the biggest TV networks, putting traditional television content on a social media platform that's disrupting long-held viewing habits.
"Obviously the big bet is television," said Kerry Flynn, a media reporter for Digiday. "And one of the biggest announcements was NBC as well as ESPN putting some of their biggest shows and channels on Twitter."
The agreements to stream TV content on Twitter may seem like a gamble for both sides, but Flynn said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar that it can be an interesting and useful way to develop new viewing habits and test what works and what doesn't in an increasingly digital and fragmented media landscape.
Viewership for live sports, for example, has steadily declined for traditional media outlets like ESPN. In recent years, major sports leagues have turned to nontraditional outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and Amazon to stream sporting events to a wider audience. The NFL, which streamed Thursday Night Football games on Twitter in 2016, will show weeknight games on Amazon for the second year in a row.
Flynn said the major sports leagues, and the TV networks that have traditionally paid big money for the broadcast rights, can afford to experiment on different platforms to see where they can find the most engaged audience outside the usual television paradigm.
Twitter has positioned itself to be a proving ground for live sports content, but what happens when ESPN's parent Disney launches its own streaming service in 2019?
"That's what's super interesting about putting Sports Center Live and Fantasy Football Live on Twitter because if Disney is going to offer something and ESPN already has their stand alone app, what are you doing?" said Flynn. "I agree that maybe longevity is brought into question, but Disney has the time and resources to experiment."
Playing content in various spaces might offer media companies more of an opportunity to diversify and increase ratings, said Flynn.
"I wouldn't say TV is dead at all," she said. "We obviously watch it. But its smart to try to boost the ratings by slowly diversifying it out."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/twitter-doubles-down-on-video).
Energy Impact Partners is a VC firm committed to helping the world move toward a more sustainable future. The tech-focused fund aims to reach $350 million for its Deep Decarbonization Frontier Fund,' which aims to support early-stage companies working on innovative solutions. Energy Impact Partners' Managing Director Andy Lubershane joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Over the years we have heard a number of ways people can invest. However, have you thought about how you could invest in sneakers? Well, one platform says you can do that and more.RARE is an investment platform for sneakers that allows users to easily invest in the sneaker culture by giving them the opportunity to buy and trade shares of rare shoes and letting users own some of the most sought-after kicks at a fractional level. Rare says the goal is to empower the communities who made sneakers what they are today and give everyone a piece of the pie. CEO of RARES, Gerome Sapp, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Crypto is increasingly becoming a hotspot for criminals and fraud with cryptocurrency crime reaching a record-breaking high. reports show scammers took $14 billion worth of crypto in 2021 alone. The latest crypto scam is aimed at investors in Binance. Ben Armstrong, the founder of Bitboy Crypto, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
SES Holdings, a leader in production of high-performance hybrid lithium-metal rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, has arrived on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC deal and now trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker 'SES.' Qichao Hu, founder & CEO, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss the debut as well as what lies ahead for the company.
More than 70 religious leaders have come together to sign a letter to urge Mark Zuckerberg and Meta to halt plans for Instagram for Kids. The signers claim that this new platform, currently on pause, could cause spiritual harm to young people. Lucy Kidwell, the screen-free week coordinator for the nonprofit that organized the letter, Fairplay, joined Cheddar News to discuss the issue on Safer Internet Day. "It's not necessarily the content, even, that's on these platforms, but more the structure of the app itself," she said. "It's all focused on comparison, promoting yourself, putting forward this image of perfection and this beautiful life that's really harmful to kids who can't really separate what's real and what's fake and who may not be emotionally mature enough to handle something so complicated."
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
February 8 is Safer Internet Day, and Google has partnered with online education organization Khan Academy to release a courseload focused on internet safety. The partnership includes a $5 million donation towards content development from Google, with modules to be made available in various languages throughout 2022. Founder of Khan Academy, Sal Khan, joined Cheddar News to discuss the partnership. "We need to get to a world where everyone of all ages has a chance to learn and practice and feel good that they can navigate the internet in a safe way,” said Khan.
