Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) are in talks with Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) to acquire online rights to highlights from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, according to a report from Bloomberg News.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men’s national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018.
Citing unnamed people, Bloomberg reported that the social media companies offered 21st Century Fox tens of millions of dollars for rights to highlights from games that air in the United States.
According to the report, Fox has yet to make a decision whether to sell exclusive rights to just one company or to spread them around. Selling rights to social media companies will help Fox boost its revenue as well as give the company coverage on social media. So, this is a win-win deal for Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX).
Fox bought U.S. rights to the quadrennial event and will air games on broadcast and cable TV. The company reportedly paid $400 million to acquire multi-year World Cup rights.
Social media companies are betting on video content to engage visitors and attract advertisers. For Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and other social networking sites, the World Cup is an attractive event to offer more premium video to their users and attract advertisers. The 2014 World Cup Final was viewed by more than 25 million people in the U.S., becoming the most-watched soccer match in the country’s history.
Russia is hosting the next year’s games and because of the time difference, many games will be at odd hours. So, there may be a great demand for highlights in the U.S.
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) has replaced traditional news and highlights with talk shows hosted by opinionated analyst. “Highlight shows have become less valuable to broadcasters, and less interesting to viewers, in an era when most Americans can catch the latest clips via social-media feeds on their mobile phones,” according to Bloomberg.
