The US television network owns the English-language broadcast rights to the tournaments through to 2026 and partnered with the social network for its coverage of both the last men’s World Cup in Russia in 2018 and the women’s edition in France in 2019.
This latest deal will see Fox expand its output across its Twitter channels to include not just near real-time highlights for viewers in the US, but also original content and new formats that take advantage of the social media platform’s latest features.
These include Twitter moments and social audio analysis on Twitter Spaces. Meanwhile, members of Fox Sports’ presentation team will also participate in live Q&A sessions on the platform.
“Fans will be watching all the World Cup matches live on Fox, FS1 and the Fox Sports App, discussing every moment as it happens on Twitter,” said Michael Bucklin, senior vice president, digital content, Fox Sports. “We want to be there with them, fostering interaction in tried-and-true ways like match highlights, but also new and inventive ways like Twitter Spaces. It’s great to work on this collaboration with Twitter who shares in our mission in being ‘live’ and setting high watermarks for World Cup coverage on social.”
The partnership highlights the growing importance of social and digital channels as complements to broadcast coverage during major events. Platforms like Twitter allow rights holders to maximise the value of their content and engage demographics that traditional linear broadcasts cannot reach. Building that audience will be critical given the men’s 2026 World Cup will be held in North America.
Fox Sports recorded 100 million views on Twitter during the last Women’s World Cup and will hope that strong US performances in both upcoming events will help break that record.
Twitter has expanded its portfolio of services to help drive activity and revenue opportunities around sporting events, partnering with major organisations like the National Football League (NFL) and other broadcasters like ESPN.
“Fox Sports has been a pioneer in delivering soccer fans the best possible content experience around the game they love,” added Edward Hartman, senior vice president, digital partnerships and wagering, Fox Sports. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Twitter to achieve that goal – their platform is core to Fox Sports’ digital strategy surrounding the World Cup tournaments. We look forward to continuing this relationship.”
“We are excited to work with Fox Sports to bring the biggest moments from the men’s and women’s Fifa World Cup to Twitter,” said TJ Adeshola, head of US sports partnerships at Twitter. “For the first time ever, fans will be able to join Twitter Spaces to hear all about the games, bringing them closer than ever to the action in Qatar, Australia and New Zealand.”
