Twitter and the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) today announced a partnership to stream the 2016 Emirates Melbourne Cup to a global audience, the first Twitter live streaming deal the company has announced outside of the United States.
Twitter will live stream the 2016 Emirates Melbourne Cup from 2:30PM AEDT on 1 November 2016, in its entirety, free of charge, available worldwide to Twitter’s logged-in and logged-out audience on Twitter and connected devices.
The hour-long race broadcast produced for the VRC by the Seven Network will also include 30 minutes of build-up before the race, followed by post-race commentary and analysis.
Jonathan Harley, Twitter Australia’s Director of Media Partnerships, said: “Twitter is where the world of sport is happening every single day, and Australian sporting events don’t come more iconic than the Emirates Melbourne Cup. Live streaming the race that stops a nation with the VRC and the Seven Network, combined with the live commentary and conversation on Twitter, will create a one-screen experience at the centre of the action unlike any other.”
Nick Addison, VRC Executive General Manager of Commercial Operations, said: “We are thrilled to enter into this partnership with Twitter to stream the Emirates Melbourne Cup to a worldwide audience, becoming the first professional sporting event in Australia to be live streamed on the social networking platform. The Emirates Melbourne Cup is one of the hotly anticipated events on the global racing calendar. By leveraging the power of Twitter’s enormous real-time platform for reaction, commentary, analysis, and more, this partnership will provide viewers the opportunity to watch Seven Network’s exceptional production and interact with the action on and off the track as it happens live on smartphones, tablets and computers.”
In addition, the @FlemingtonVRC Twitter account will also be Tweeting video clips over the course of the Melbourne Cup Carnival including the concluding stages of every race, fashion, celebrity and venue highlights, and a range of exclusive behind the scenes action.
Twitter will also set up a mobile #BlueRoom activation inside the exclusive Birdcage enclosure during the Melbourne Cup Carnival to facilitate interviews with racing, fashion and other well-known identities that will be Tweeted out as short video clips.
