NFL to live-stream Super Bowl, additional games in China on Sina Weibo

By Saqib Shah January 2, 2017

nfl sina weibo chargers vs cardinals football — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The NFL is partnering with Chinese social media giant Sina Weibo to live-stream games on the social network, including the Super Bowl.

The deal, which the NFL describes as a world first, is already underway — several games were live-streamed over the past couple of weekends, including the final regular-season Sunday Night Football game — but was only recently announced.

In addition to the six regular season games that have already been aired, Sina Weibo users will also be able to tune in live to three playoff games and Super Bowl LI on Sunday, February 5.

“Sina Weibo is an excellent partner for the NFL as we engage fans across the Chinese mainland. We are excited about working with Sina Weibo to stream NFL games to millions of fans. We’re confident this will be a valuable long-term partnership for the NFL and our sponsors in China,” said Richard Young, managing director of NFL China.

Often referred to as China’s version of Twitter, Sina Weibo currently boasts 297 million monthly active users (a figure comparable to that of its Western counterpart). An average of 100 million messages are shared on Sina Weibo every day, and the platform contains its fair share of famous public figures including Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Having already struck a similar live-streaming deal with Twitter, the NFL is likely looking to break into the massive Chinese market via the country’s domestic social media, home to millions of younger users.

Unlike the Twitter deal, however, the Sina Weibo partnership also includes coverage of the Super Bowl and a ton of non-game video content such as the top 10 performances of the week, top five runs, and top five catches.

The NFL claims it currently attracts around 1.5 million viewers in China each week. Seeing as the Twitter deal saw it grab 2.3 million viewers for its first broadcast, it’s easy to see those numbers getting a boost through the popular Chinese social network.

Whether its latest deal means the NFL will continue to bring its content to social media elsewhere in the world remains to be seen. The thought of the Super Bowl coming to Twitter is an exciting prospect, and something the social platform could push for if and when it decides to extend its content partnership with the sports league.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…

Audio / Video

You have until June 9 to save $500 off an 85-inch Samsung The Frame TV

A painting being displayed on a Samsung The Frame QLED.

Looking for great TV deals? You still have time to save $500 on the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV when you head over to Samsung. It usually costs $4,300, but right now the popular and stylish TV is down to $3,800, making it more affordable than before. If you’re keen to invest in a large TV but love to save money too, this is a good opportunity. Here’s what you need to know about the TV before you decide to buy.

Why you should buy the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV
One of the best QLED TVs around, the Samsung 85-inch The Frame QLED TV is a delight in so many ways. At its core, it’s a fantastic QLED TV with 100% Color Volume with Quantum Dot technology saturating the screen with a billion colors. QLED adds a layer of quantum dots to a TV’s LED backlight with these dots, once exposed to light, emitting their own light with a high level of efficiency to provide great picture quality.

Audio / Video

It’s your last chance to get up to $1,900 off a Samsung OLED TV

The Samsung S90C in a living room environment.

There’s still a little time left to snap up one of the best TV deals available today, with Samsung still selling the 83-inch S90C OLED TV for $3,500 instead of $5,400. The $1,900 discount is a pretty vast one and one that you certainly don’t want to skip. If you’re looking for a great new TV for your large living space, you’re going to love this deal. Let’s take a look at how great the Samsung S90C OLED TV is.

Why you should buy the Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV
Samsung makes some of the best TVs around and we’re huge fans of the Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV. It has an OLED panel so you get self-lit pixels which can light up independently of each other. That means that you can enjoy the deepest blacks and the brightest colors all on the same scene, ensuring you never miss a detail. The Samsung 83-inch S90C OLED TV uses a Neural Quantum Processor with 4K upscaling so its AI-powered processor can transform whatever you’re watching. There’s also HDR OLED which uses AI deep learning to analyze each scene, detecting areas that need to brighter, darker, or simply richer in color.

Audio / Video

This Sonos Bluetooth speaker has a discount in time for beach weather

Sonos Roam SL in black on a rainy rock outdoors.

A day out at the beach. Cooking outside using a discounted grill or smoker. Pool party madness. What do they all three have in common? A lot of fun, but also a great chance to get any sound equipment ruined by a sudden downpour or a splash of inevitable water. That's why there are models of waterproof Bluetooth speakers, of which the Sonos Roam SL is one. And the good news is that you can get yours at a discounted rate before summer officially gets here. Right now, the Sonos Roam SL is just $127, which is $33 down from its typical price of $160. To get yours, all you need to do is tap the button below. Consider also reading below, as we examine the speaker and see why it is considered an easy pick up.

Why you should buy the Sonos Roam SL
The Sonos Roam SL is an easy-to-use, compact speaker for wherever you roam. Connect to it easily over Wi-Fi at home or Bluetooth on the go, giving you easy options to control the sound in a way that makes sense for you and your location. If you're at home and connected to your Wi-Fi system and have other Sonos speakers, you can even get the Sonos multi-room experience, which syncs everything in a nice way. So, you can keep the Sonos Roam SL out on the patio (where it might get rained upon) and keep the best Sonos speakers indoors and have a really cool, worry-free party experience that not many others will be able to replicate.