Score one for Twitter.
The company reached a deal with the National Football League to stream Thursday Night Football games, according to a tweet from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, a huge victory for the struggling social network. In a statement released Tuesday, the NFL says the streams will be free, and won't require viewers to authenticate through a cable subscription to watch.
"Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement.
This fall Thursday Night Football will be streamed live @twitter so fans will see more of this. https://t.co/s6tbr9FjvY
— Roger Goodell (@nflcommish) April 5, 2016
Shares of Twitter were up more than 3% in pre-market trading Tuesday.
According to Bloomberg, which first reported the deal, Twitter was competing with big names in tech, including Amazon, Facebook and Yahoo, which streamed last year's game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
As part of the deal, Twitter will host in-game highlights from the Thursday night games as well as pre-game broadcast through Twitter's live streaming app Periscope.
"People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a statement. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
Twitter has worked with the NFL since 2013, partnering on the social network's Amplify program, where the NFL can capture key moments from games and quickly share them on Twitter. Last year, the NFL reached a multi-year deal with Twitter to include more content, including archival video, game recaps and top plays.
This isn't the first time the NFL has experimented with unique approaches to delivering highlights or other football content to fans. Last year, the league partnered with Snapchat to let users to participate in a global Live Story, sharing their experiences from NFL stadiums.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.