In a new deal, similar to one Twitter struck with the NFL last year, the platform yesterday announced a deal with Mediapro Agency and Liga de Fútbol Profesional.

This will, with immediate affect, allow highlights from La Liga games to be shown on the platform.  Giving the game in the country access to a much larger audience across the globe.  Not only will there be game highlights but also pre and post game interviews and content.

This will all take place through the @LaLiga account, which was formerly @LFPNews, and will be utilising Twitter Amplify which allows videos to be attached to tweets in real-time.

As insidespanishfootball.com states, “This will make the highlights of every game available to users around the world almost simultaneously as they occur. Starting today, @Laliga becomes the first football competition in Europe to benefit from these tools which will put as the most advanced in terms of online communication. @Laliga with Amplify, is at the level of the great American leagues (NBA, NFL, MLB).”

It’s certainly a deal that takes Spanish football into the realms previously occupied only by the big US sports.  One of the big problems for rights holders has been the use of Vine and YouTube to show goals and content, rights that have been sold to broadcast companies.  This bypasses that  issue and gives fans what they want, when they want it.

“The agreement will allow us to more effectively achieve one of the priorities that we have set for La Liga: the globalization of the Liga BBVA. Now the best league in the world will be on the best social network in the world.”  –  Javier Tebas, LFP President

The CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, stated that this is “a fantastic deal” and that they will continue “working to provide users with the content they are looking for while maintaining the global spirit that has come to define Twitter”.

Could this be the first of many sports federations/rights holders to go down this route?  And it will be interesting to see how it works out financially for LFP through advertising within it and how this compares to previous models they have used for their video rights.  In the UK we can only get delayed goal highlights through Sun+ Goals (paywalled), then highlights at even later stages on TV and official websites.  Hard to see it changing anytime soon with these recent deals in place.

In a separate announcement, 123on, the mobile video platform for the world’s most widely and passionately shared interests will be delivering the highlights straight to fans’ mobile devices in a partnership with MediaPro. 

The 123on platform enables Android phone users to view and share their favorite La Liga BBVA plays simply by downloading the 123on application from Google Play (bit.ly/Nx95hv). Incoming calls, alerts and other prompts then come with a quick video highlight right from the pitch.  Fans can even create their own user-generated mobile content – and share it all with family, friends and other dedicated football lovers.

(From left to right: Javier Tebas, Dick Costolo, Adam Bain and Jaume Roures)