Prone to outsized proclamations about the impact of the platform, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted last month that the social media site previously known as Twitter is “the best place for sports!!”
That claim is likely to remain highly debatable but X is attempting to ramp up its efforts in the world of sports docuseries, Yaccarino said on Wednesday, per Axios.
“The men’s strong teams, strong leagues are I think magnets to draw the audience. And the women athletes on the platform, the fandom is just as ferocious,” Yaccarino said while speaking at Women’s Sports House in Cannes. “X wants to galvanize what’s already authentically out there on our platform, bring those audiences together, feed the user base but also give opportunity for brands in this moment.”
X has made its intentions clear for a while now that it wants to be seen as a video platform. In April, it launched a TV app for videos that were uploaded directly to the platform with an interface that seemed similar to YouTube. They’ve also been pushing for users to make X the home for their video content while striking exclusive deals with Tucker Carlson, Jim Rome, and Don Lemon, though the latter didn’t last very long after Lemon dared to ask owner Elon Musk some tough questions.
On Tuesday, X announced it would be the exclusive streaming home of The Offseason, a six-part docuseries about NWSL players. That comes on the heels of premiering FanDuel’s “All In: The Boston Celtics,” a docuseries following the Boston Celtics on their NBA championship run. The platform has also partnered with NBC Universal to showcase video from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
https://twitter.com/OffseasonFC/status/1803080979617124693
Yaccario added that she and Musk were both at Cannes making the rounds in part to “set fact from fiction” surrounding the platform. Presumably, they didn’t do too much to dispel concerns over X’s views and audience numbers, which have often seemed unrealistic or misleading.
While some major advertisers paused their partnerships with X last year following Musk’s endorsement of antisemitic posts on the platform, not to mention the proliferation of white nationalist advertising on mainstream content, it does seem that so long as Elon keeps his head down, as much as he is capable of doing so, content creators and leagues are willing to play ball with X. However, we’ll see what the upcoming election cycle and potentially new usage fees bring.
[Axios]
