Tonight’s Premier League Deadline Day will be livestreamed on Twitter

Transfer deadline day is one that football fans across the world love dearly, and a day Premier League managers hate. But another company eagerly rubbing its hands in anticipation is, perhaps surprisingly, Twitter.

The microblogging platform has signed a deal with UK broadcaster Sky Sports that will see it host live broadcasts of Sky’s deadline day coverage. It’s a great coup for Twitter, and an even bigger one for fans. Effectively, you can catch the last minute signings and deals without the need of a subscription, or a television.

“The heart of Deadline Day is the fantastic reporting team and a newsroom that delivers incredible stories of improbable transfers all football fans are craving,” explains Sky Sports’ digital director Dave Gibbs.

“Our job is to package the fascinating stories across all the platforms we have so that fans can decide the best way for them to follow the news, whether that’s watching Sky Sports News HQ, live streaming on Twitter, or across our apps and website.”

Deadline Day is a massive day for footballing fans, and Twitter clearly wants to be a part of the hype

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a social network used as a platform for live sport though.

Facebook became central to SuperSport’s plans in broadcasting last year’s Varsity Cup football final, and the novelty T20 cricket match between the Springboks and Proteas. Internationally, both Facebook and Twitter have been involved in broadcasting large chunks of the PGA Tour in the States.

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Clearly there’s a desire for broadcasters to mesh social media into broadcasts, and a hunger for the likes of Twitter to jump on the livestreaming bandwagon. This deal seems a bit of a win-win then.

According to Twitter COO Anthony Noto, the company is “thrilled” to be collaborating with Sky on the broadcast.

As for the unfolding footballing saga, Twitter will broadcast an hour segment from 7pm SAST to 8pm, as well as the final hour leading up to the deadline, from 12am to 1am.

You can catch the broadcasts, along with a live-roll of tweets alongside, here.

Feature image: Paul Hudson via Flickr (CC 2.0, resized)