The American National Football League said it had chosen Twitter as its exclusive global partner for streaming its Thursday night games during the 2016 regular season.
Twitter Inc, whose shares were up about 2 percent in early trading, will stream 10 games for free, the NFL said in a statement.
The deal also includes in-game highlights as well as pre-game broadcasts from players and teams on Periscope, Twitter's live-streaming video service.
Twitter outbid a number of companies, including Verizon Communications Inc, Yahoo Inc and Amazon.com Inc to win the deal, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. Facebook Inc dropped out of the bidding last week, the report said.
The NFL signed a multi-year partnership with Twitter last year to deliver video and other content to fans on a daily basis.
The previous partnership, which expanded the NFL's existing partnership with Twitter, included in-game highlights from pre-season through Super Bowl 50.
"People watch NFL games with Twitter today," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell added: "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.
"There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season."
