It seems Twitter decided to do a soft launch of its sports live-streaming tool today, but you should save the link. Seriously, because it’s not easy to find.
The company began streaming Wimbledon, with coverage beginning on day 9, with the men’s quarterfinals. But tennis fans who also happen to be Twitter users were left in the dark about the new feature. There were no messages about it while logging into the social network, and typing the hashtag #wimbledon only resulted in a plethora of enthusiastic tweets about Roger Federer’s comeback against Marin Cilic.
Early Wednesday morning, Wimbledon’s official account tweeted a link to the live coverage of the Grand Slam tournament. The tweet was pinned for a while and then was apparently removed.
So far, the best way to find the link is to search on “Twitter” and “Wimbledon” and then select “Live @ Wimbledon Day 9.” Tennis fans can access the Twitter coverage here, even without a Twitter account.
The Twitter product is very basic. On laptops, viewers can see the video coverage on the left of their screens and a Twitter timeline on the right. On mobile, the video appears on top of the screen, while the feed is displayed at the bottom.
The coverage of Wimbledon is provided by ESPN, which broadcasts Wimbledon on its website at no additional cost for selected television and broadband providers.
After having signed a $10 million deal with NFL to stream Thursday Night Football in the fall, Twitter probably needed to play around with live streaming and decided to test things out with Wimbledon. Let’s hope that football games will be easier to find and watch next time.