Beginning with tonight’s tip-off of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Twitter is supplying basketball lovers with highlights of the action within a few minutes. Viewers will be able to view highlights from all 67 games via Twitter.
When North Carolina A&T faces Liberty in Dayton, Ohio, tonight, Twitter users who follow @marchmadeness will be able to watch instant highlights on their phones, tablets and PCs without leaving the social networking site.
“Instant replay plays to Twitter’s strength of news in real time and on mobile,” says Glenn Brown, director of promoted content and partnerships at Twitter, which is partnering with Turner Broadcasting, to USA Today. A third party, Silicon Valley-based SnappyTV, is supplying the underlying technology to deliver 15-second video highlights.
Twitter introduced the “instant replay†concept last year when it joined with ESPN for college bowl game highlights. The concept is a new way for the platform to strike up advertising sponsorships.