Twitter is nearing an agreement with Viacom to host TV clips and sell advertising on the site, reports Bloomberg. It is also reportedly discussing a content partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and one or more of the deals could be reached by mid-May.
According to sources cited in the article, the partnerships would let Twitter stream videos on its site and split the resulting ad revenue with the networks. Twitter already has agreements in place with ESPN, Weather Channel LLC, and Turner Broadcasting System.
If the partnerships come to fruition, it would be the latest step in Twitter’s moves to branch out from being a microblogging platform to a multi-faceted media platform in a bid to increase user engagement and reap more advertising revenue. Engaging with television networks is a logical step for the company: a third of active Twitter users tweeted last June about something they saw on television, up from 26 percent last year, according to a Nielsen report (Twitter has also partnered with Nielsen to measure how much of the chatter on the site is prompted by television programs).
Other recent moves by Twitter to build tools allowing users to share content within the platform instead of relying on third-party providers include the launch of its music app last week after it acquired music discovery service startup We Are Hunted, and the introduction of Vine.