TORONTO – Twitter Canada announced a number of new livestreaming deals with some big Canadian brands Thursday at its first-ever #TwitterFronts event.
The streaming partnerships include Bell Media for the iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards; news content from BetaKit, BuzzFeed, Cheddar and Bloomberg; sports from Golf Canada, Tennis Canada, Homestand Sports, and the NHL Players Association; and a slate of lifestyle content from Corus.
Noting that entertainment, lifestyle and food make up some of the highest consumed content on social media, Corus pledged to produce three new video series for Twitter incorporating its brands and talent, aimed at millennial audiences.
That content, created by Corus’ in-house social content studio so.da, will include #OneDirtyDish, featuring Food Network Canada’s celebrity chefs creating easy weeknight meals all in one pot using ingredients selected by Twitter’s audience via polls; #TrendingTonight, a twice-weekly roundup of the biggest news in entertainment from the hosts of Entertainment Tonight Canada; and #ThisIsViral (working title), a daily live and interactive series that "dives into" top Twitter trending stories from pop to internet culture, must-tweet memes and everything in between.
“This is the perfect time to partner on short-form series with the social powerhouse that is Twitter,” said Corus’ social media and communications VP Dervla Kelly, in a statement. “There is already an insatiable appetite for Corus’ content – we saw more than four billion views of our social content last year alone, with incredible engagement rates. Pairing our strong brands and expertise in content creation with Twitter’s strength in generating social conversations, these new series are certain to be a hit.”
Twitter’s global head of content partnerships, Kay Madati, said that the social media platform has “seen a strong appetite for Canadian content”.
“With this new slate of publisher deals, everyday Canadians on Twitter will have a fresh array of new content options and for brand and agency partners, we’ll be offering new opportunities to tap into what’s happening on Twitter,” she said in a Twitter Canada blog post.
In photo: Twitter Canada GM Leanne Gibson at #TwitterFronts
