*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).
E-commerce platform for construction and building materials RenoRun has raised $142 million in a Series B round, which the company says is the fourth largest Series B round in Canadian history. RenoRun’s platform offers same-day delivery of construction materials to job sites in Canada and the United States. The company aims to revolutionize the construction industry by maximizing productivity and efficiency. RenoRun co-founder and CEO Eamonn O’Rourke joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Facebook parent company Meta reported weaker-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, and also issued disappointing guidance for Q1 2022. The tech giant is also under pressure due to Apple's iOS privacy change, as well as continued multi-billion dollar losses for its metaverse focused business unit. Angelo Zino, Tech Analyst at CFRA Research, joins Closing Bell to discuss the earnings results, how Apple's iOS privacy change will impact revenue, whether the metaverse is an underrated investment opportunity, and more.
The video game industry has seen monumental growth the past few years - with an increasing amount of companies jumping head first into the space. In January alone, Microsoft announced its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard, game publisher Take-Two agreed to buy Zynga, and most recently, Sony announced it has agreed to buy game developer Bungie for $3.6 billion. Tobias Batton, CEO and founder of Ex Populus, joined Cheddar Movers to discuss the surge in M&A activity in the gaming space.
Facebook parent Meta reported disappointing results in its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding to focus on the metaverse. The tech giant delivered mixed results with quarterly profit falling well below Wall Street expectations. Shares plunged more than 20 percent in after hours trading as a result. Martin Garner, COO of CCS Insight, joined Cheddar Movers to break down the company's results.
Super Group, the company behind leading global online sports betting and gaming businesses Betway and Spin, has landed on Wall Street. The company went public via SPAC with Sports Entertainment Acquisition Corp., and now lists on the NYSE under the ticker symbol 'SGHC.' This debut comes as the U.S. sports betting market continues to heat up with more and more states legalizing the practice. Eric Grubman, chairman of Super Group, joined Cheddar to discuss.
Miami wants to be the crypto capital of the world. Mayor Francis Suarez has gone all in on the blockchain, even accepting one of his first paychecks in Bitcoin, hosting one of the world's largest digital cryptocurrency conferences, and marketing Miami as a great place for tech experts to work. Maja Vujinovic, managing director of OGroupLLC, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to discuss Miami's enthusiasm toward crypto, some of the potential risks that entails, and where the city might be heading when it comes to the crypto takeover.
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
