Wimbledon, Twitter and the age of video highlights

As Wimbledon starts, it’s clear that this is an event which will be heavily followed on social media. For the last decade, that’s been increasingly obvious, but as Facebook and Twitter battle it out more and more for live sports rights, it’s starting to become second nature.

Because instead of just ‘following’ the action on Twitter – that is, getting updates in tweet form from people who are actually there – there’s now an entire live video feed from @TwitterSports. Video content from major events like Wimbledon has become expected now, and both Twitter and Wimbledon’s organisers themselves are responding.

In the build-up to the tournament, it was clear that the innovations for this year’s event would lead to a surpassing of fan expectations – both for fans watching at home and for fans visiting SW19. Indeed, anyone watching on Twitter has had their experience enhanced, too.

The Wimbledon Channel is streaming live on the platform, as we have seen, but Wimbledon’s official account is also on the money with highlights and key moments, too, so those of us at work during the day don’t have to spend their time hiding live streams from their bosses, and instead will be able to watch short video clips of the important moments.

And the lighter ones, too.

For all of the last football season, Sky Sports posted the videos of the Premier League goals scored in the games shown live on their channels, whilst BT did the same for Champions League footage. Over the course of that year, high-definition highlights of sport has become the norm on the platform, replacing low quality, pirated clips which had been prevalent for years. It makes a big difference.

It’s also solidified Twitter’s position as a site where you can find sporting footage.

And that has created the climate for the win-win situation we’ve seen for Twitter and Wimbledon this year. For an event which takes place throughout the day during the working week, the ability to present their content in bitesize chunks on Twitter via their official feed, and with their branding all over it is a godsend.

And we’ll only see more of it.

About author

Chris McMullan
Chris McMullan 831 posts

Chris is a sports journalist and editor of Digital Sport - follow him on Twitter @CJMcMullan_

You might also like

SPORTEL 2021: Day One Recap

This year’s prestigious SPORTEL convention kicked off in sunny Monaco today, welcoming a host of familiar faces as well as plenty of new ones. Doors opened at 8:30am with businesses

Six Founding Riders Set To Bring The Vision Of The UCI Track Champions League To Life

Olympic Champions, UCI World Champions and World Record holders join the new track cycling competition debuting in November 2021 The UCI Track Champions League is delighted to announce that six

Sports related spending to soar this summer as pre-pandemic life resumes

New insights from eBay Ads UK reveal the potential for brands to engage with an excited but nervous nation as sports events get back on track  As pubs and indoor