First ever NFL game broadcast live on Twitter a success - could the Premier League be next?

It was the first live major sporting event to be shown on a social media site

Marquise Goodwin scores for the Bills (Getty Images)

NFL took a step into the unknown on Thursday night when Twitter broadcast a major sporting event live for the first time.

New York Jets’ 37-31 win over Buffalo Bills in the AFC East was shown free across the world and was the first of ten Thursday night games to be broadcast over the social media site throughout the season.

The stream quality was relatively flawless and available on laptops, tablets and computers, as well as Apple TV and Amazon Fire, meaning the accessibility was unlimited.

The stream had a timeline adjacent to it, allowing fans to tweet their opinions on the Jets’ first win of the season while they watched the video uninterrupted.

Due to the stop-start nature of NFL – a one hour game typically lasts three-and-a-half hours – it makes it the perfect sport to be shown on social media as fans drift in and out of the action without missing a crucial touchdown, tackle or interception.

However, there were drawbacks to the feed, with Twitter itself, rather than the user, selecting the timeline you could view during the game, meaning there were a lot of nonsense tweets about how good the stream was rather than discussing the game.

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor assesses his options (Getty Images)

Nevertheless, it won’t be long before advertisers hop onto the early success and even though the NFL has strict rules on betting, online bookies will big one of the big benefactors should the idea stretch to other sports.

Social media sites were allowed to bid for the radio and television rights for the present Premier League season but if they did none were successful (the league’s blind bidding means they do not reveal the unsuccessful bidders).

Sky Sports are using Twitter to play out live Premier League goals this season, while BT Sport does the same with their Champions League coverage.

Should the deal with the NFL prove to be a success, expect social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to be amongst the bidding for the Premier League rights when they are up for renewal in 2019.