The National Football League (NFL) has strengthened its partnership with Facebook, vowing to deliver more diversified NFL video content to fans worldwide through the social media site.
As part of the partnership, the NFL will continue distributing recaps from all regular season games, as well as playoff matchups, and the Super Bowl, plus video highlights from postseason tentpole events like the Pro Bowl, NFL Scouting Combine and NFL Draft.
Blake Stuchin, NFL Vice President of Digital Media Business Development commented: “Facebook continues to be an important partner in accessing millions of highly engaged fans around the world. As we celebrate our 100th season, we look forward to providing even more exciting ways for NFL fans on Facebook to watch, share, and talk about their favourite NFL moments.”
According to the release, more than 22 million people watched at least a minute of an NFL recap on Facebook in 2017 and 2018, with 28% of these views coming from outside the U.S.
Rob Shaw, Facebook Head of League and Media Sports Partnerships added on the extension: “We’re thrilled to partner with the NFL to bring some of sports’ most talked-about moments and storylines back to Facebook Watch.
“The past two seasons show how well NFL content performs on Facebook, and we look forward to helping the league find more ways to engage fans through products like Facebook Groups and Watch Party.”
The league will also create Facebook Groups around content themes and work to share relevant video in those groups to foster conversation and connection.
In addition, the NFL will host a weekly “Watch Party” around a Game Recap throughout the regular season, which will enable fans to watch and talk about their favourite moments from the past week’s games together in real-time.
The league will also utilise the partnership with Facebook to increase engagement with a host of new content:
- NFL news and analysis: Video clips featuring NFL Media analysts, reporters and on-air personalities from NFL Network signature studio shows
- Video versions of NFL-produced podcasts: Weekly video versions of popular NFL Media podcasts including “Around the NFL” with Gregg Rosenthal, Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling
- Classic content: Archived content from the NFL Films vault featured across NFL Throwback
- Special NFL 100 content: A series of NFL 100 content that celebrates the best teams, players and moments of the league’s first 100 seasons.
