Facebook is reportedly in talks with Major League Baseball, or MLB, to reach a deal allowing the company to stream one live game per week on its site during the upcoming season, according to new reports.
Facebook Courting MLB For Live Game Streaming
The deal, if indeed on the cards, could be a big win for the social media platform, which is currently working to offer more live sports to its user base, according to Reuters, citing sources familiar with the situation.
In a move to outdo Twitter's own live sports efforts, Facebook has pushed to sign deals with sports rights owners for livestreaming of games, according to the report, aiming to capture an audience Twitter is also trying to lure into its platform. Twitter, by contrast, has already managed to stream sports broadcasts in the past, including National Football League and National Hockey League matches. Not to be left out, Yahoo is also in the sports broadcasting roster, too, as per CNET's report.
Facebook Going After Sports
Sports is the perfect fodder to entice people to use livestreaming, since sports is one of the few types of content in this modern world people still opt to watch live. According to Lee Berke, a sports media consultant, Facebook is staunchly inching toward sports content, and the company is now being added to the slew of competitors traditional media is jostling with in terms of sports programming.
"It makes perfect sense that they would be going after name brand properties like the MLB," he said.
Reuters's report says, citing a source, that both companies are already in advanced talks. It's still uncertain, however, which games will MLB let Facebook stream exactly. Both companies are both seemingly opting to go mum when pressed about the potential deal.
Facebook Already Knows A Thing Or Two About Sports Streaming
If it pushes through, MLB will be Facebook's most high-profile sports broadcasting collaborator, but such a partnership isn't a novelty for the company. In the past few months, Facebook has already livestreamed sports events, such as soccer games, global basketball matches, and table tennis rallies — baseball wouldn't be too far off its echelon. For instance, when it decided to stream Liga MX games, Univision chose Facebook Live's platform.
However, MLB is obviously a colossal feat to corner, and if the deal is successfully inked, Facebook could lure users away from Twitter, giving the audience plenty of time to stay engaged on the platform during the season.
Of course, that means the deal will also be prime time for advertisements, one of the key elements generating profit for the social media company.
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On a different note, Facebook will soon release an app that'll let its users watch Facebook videos on their TVs, including live broadcasts, which could be great timing if the MLB deal pushes through, assuming such a notion — of people being able to watch games via Facebook on their TV — will be permitted.
Thoughts on the possible Facebook-MLB livestreaming deal? Would you enjoy watching MLB on the social media platform? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
