NFL, Twitter Extend Partnership: Video Clips, Ads And Football GIFs Coming To Your Feed

The National Football League and Twitter have renewed a partnership to create video clips and other content, like GIFs and sports advertising, for the microblogging site, the organizations announced Monday. Under the multiyear deal, the NFL and Twitter will work together to build and share content, such as in-game highlights, from the preseason up to Super Bowl 50 in February, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Beyond game highlights, the NFL's accounts will also tweet breaking news footage, game recaps, infographics, behind-the-scenes videos and clips from the archives. The partnership also means Twitter users could be seeing more sports-related ads. The NFL is a partner in Twitter's Amplify program, where brands can use customizable tools, such as video cards, and access to targeted audiences. Partners can easily integrate advertising, including ad pre-roll for up to 6 seconds, according to Twitter's terms.

While it is a renewal of a partnership, the organizations said they are breaking "new ground" by enhancing content as well as improving how it is delivered. That could hint at more quality material surfaced during events, as Twitter experiments with a new initiative called "Project Lightning."

The NFL is one of Twitter's most engaged partners. While the press release boasts the NFL's high television viewership numbers -- an estimated 202.3 million unique viewers for the 2014 regular season, according to Nielsen data -- the official NFL Twitter account (@NFL) has 12.6 million followers. Through paid promotions, the NFL's tweets can also reach Twitter's over 316 monthly active users.

“Over the past two years, NFL content on Twitter has seen best-in-class user engagement rates, and the expanded partnership will bolster the fan experience," Glenn Brown, Twitter's head of content partnerships and Amplify, said in the release.

The companies first teamed up back in September 2013.

The NFL has since inked a deal with social networking giant Facebook, the Wall Street Journal reported. In January, the NFL launched an official channel on YouTube. The YouTube partnership also made its videos viewable on Google search.

Major League Baseball (@MLB), the PGA Tour (@PGATour) and World Wrestling Entertainment (@WWE) are also partners on Twitter's Amplify network. Some leagues have also added partnerships with other networks. In May, the MLB partnered with social app Snapchat to create a weekly channel of content from games nationwide.