Ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup third round ties, the Football Association (FA) have announced its partnership with social media site Twitter, which will give fans the chance to receive exclusive in-game clips and highlights from the third round of the tournament and onwards.
Fans from ten different countries around the world – including the U.S., India, Thailand, Brazil, Egypt and Nigeria – will have the opportunity to register their interest in receiving in-game video clips via a Twitter direct message (DM) bot registered to the six UK clubs taking part.
The feature will be made available from January 4 and will continue until the final on Saturday, May 18.
Twitter users will receive the option to be sent updates via a direct message card in a local language. When users decide to activate the link, the DM Bot will be launched and users are then able to manage notifications, share features with friends, and select which teams to follow.
The move is set to revolutionise the way in-play highlights and statistics are distributed to fans on a global scale. Users will receive @mention notifications at the start of the fixture, alongside approximately four highlight clips of around 30 seconds in each half of the match.
The option to receive more in-depth, longer clips of two and ten minutes respectively will then be made available after the match. As well as the longer clips, snippets of the match highlights will be available on the Emirates FA Cup official twitter feed and in wider international feeds.
Expanding the reach of the partnership including the variety of teams, countries and matches included is set to grow next season. This goes alongside the growing international following of the Emirates FA Cup in recent years, and is hoped that expanding the reach on a global scale will peak the interest of fans in new markets.
Georgina Lewis, Head of Marketing at The Football Association said: “Worldwide interest in the Emirates FA Cup is greater than ever. The partnership with Twitter is vital to ensure the competition remains at the forefront of fan engagement and ensures that fans across the world have live access to some of the biggest fixtures, regardless of their daily schedule or location.
“This approach fits within our overriding strategy to be innovative in delivering experiences in line with how modern fans are consuming sports media and want to engage with the competition in the future.”
Bruna Zanin-Juresic, who works on sports partnerships for Twitter, added, “We are thrilled that fans around the world will have a new way to follow the Emirates FA Cup this season, directly through Twitter. The Football Association has always been incredibly innovative in its use of the platform, so it felt like a natural fit to partner with it to give fans unprecedented access to one of the most prestigious knockout competitions in global football.”
