Platform Prater: The name of Buffalo’s football venue, New Era Field, seemed appropriate to kick off Twitter’s live streaming of Thursday NFL games Sept. 15. Giving viewers the ability to watch football on their platform of choice felt like the start of a new age. The media and public were largely positive about Twitter’s opening night stream. As Forbes.com’s headline said: “Twitter’s NFL Live Streaming Debut... Commence Cable Cutting, Sports Fans.” You didn’t even need a Twitter account to watch the game, as the service also streamed the CBS feed at tnf.twitter.com. A few minor issues: The Twitter stream was seconds behind the TV feed. Meh. And as Sports Illustrated media columnist Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) tweeted: “Twitter’s NFL experience will be exponentially better with the option of choosing your feed over Twitter’s curated TNF feed.” True. Still, at $1 million per game for 10 games, many were calling Twitter’s NFL deal a steal. As loyal readers of this page know, Twitter, a favorite of communicators ( PRN, Aug. 8), badly needs good news to calm nervous investors. Adding live streaming of football to its mix of breaking news and commentary seemed to make Twitter the buzz for at least one night. – Communicators who post videos on YouTube [see story on page 1] will be able to engage socially with followers via a Community tab. “Now you can do things like text, live videos, images, animated GIFs and more, giving you easier, lightweight ways to engage with your fans more often in between uploads, in real time,” YouTube said Sept. 13. “Viewers will be able to see your posts in the Subscriptions feed on their phones. They can also opt into getting a notification anytime you post,” it added. The tab will be available in “the months ahead,” it said. – Brands have several new avenues to explore on the Messenger platform, launched six months ago. Facebook said Sept. 12 it’s adding capabilities for “brands and businesses to be discovered” more easily on Messenger. Customers also will be able to share their Messenger experience with friends easier by clicking a share icon attached to a message bubble. Other updates include the ability to use Messenger “as a destination for News Feed ads.” There will also be a more seamless user interface between threads used by customers and brands. Payment and checkout will be simplified. In addition, brands now will be able to sell products directly to customers in Messenger.
News Bits: Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf won’t be the only brand chief in the hot seat in D.C. this week (see page 2). Mylan CEO Heather Bresch will appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government ReformSept. 21 to explain why her company raised the price of the life-saving EpiPen to $600, a 400% increase over five years. Bad timing for Bresch: News outlets splashed a Sept. 14 Wall St Journalreport that said Mylan’s top five executives received pay far out of proportion with the top paid execs at eight other healthcare firms with larger market values than Mylan. Mylan’s top 5 pulled in $292 million during a five-year period ending Dec. 2015. The daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, Democrat, WV, Bresch makes $19 million/year.
M&A: Digital marketing agency Bully Pulpit Interactive said Sept. 15 it acquired D.C. communications firm The Incite Agency, which was co-founded by former White House press chief Robert Gibbs. Bully Pulpit is the largest digital marketer for the Democratic Party. – Weber Shandwick made inroads into the mobile space, acquiring London-based mobile agency Flipside Sept. 13.
People: Showtime Networks promoted Chris DeBlasio to SVP, sports communications. He joined Showtime in 2005. Prior to that he was managing director of Brener Zwikel & Associates’ NY office. – WWE named veteran sports PR exec Chris Bellitti SVP, communications. Most recently Bellitti had been a VP with Fox Sports. He began his career at ESPN. – Dix & Eaton named managing director Gregg LaBar to lead its investor relations practice. President Lisa Rose had been leading investor relations; she became president in January. – Former NBC News anchor John Seigenthaler joined Finn Partners as senior counsel, advising clients on crisis communications, message development, media training, video and social media strategy. – WE named Catherine Allen SVP/GM of its Boston office. Most recently Allen was with Shift Communications, where she established its healthcare practice and led the east coast team and accounts. – Congrats to Ray Kotcher, non-executive chairman of Ketchum, who was inducted into the Arthur W. Page SocietyHall of Fame Sept. 11. Kudos also to Aedhmar Hynes, CEO, Text100, who received the group’s distinguished service award. – Bryan Bridges was named director of digital design at Lumentus. He joins from Burson-Marsteller, where he was a senior director.