BackX expands its ‘Gametime’ sports hub beyond the NFL, starting with MLB
X expands its ‘Gametime’ sports hub beyond the NFL, starting with MLB
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TechCrunch47 minutes agoMedia2 min readUnited States

X expands its ‘Gametime’ sports hub beyond the NFL, starting with MLB

Quick Look

X is expanding its Gametime feature beyond NFL tracking to include Major League Baseball and plans to add NBA and other professional sports, aiming to attract advertisers by offering a year-round sports hub for live scores, stats, discussions, and creator content amid efforts to win back brands after legal disputes and moderation concerns under Elon Musk.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

X launched NFL Gametime in August as a hub for live scores, play-by-play updates, and game feeds to engage sports fans and attract advertisers. The company had previously sued the World Federation of Advertisers over an alleged illegal boycott, which was settled in July. Advertisers had expressed concerns about lax moderation and Elon Musk's controversial posts under his ownership.

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X is doubling down on sports, with Wednesday’s news that it’s expanding its “Gametime” feature on the social media site to go beyond tracking the NFL alone.

First announced in August, NFL Gametime is X’s new project that offers a single hub for tracking live scores, getting play-by-play updates, tuning into game feeds, and more. The move wasn’t meant to be useful only to X users who like to congregate on the platform to discuss live sporting events, but to woo brands and advertisers looking to reach passionate sports fans.

At Advertising Week New York, X said Gametime will become a year-round destination spanning “all professional sports.”

However, that full expansion isn’t yet live as of today. Instead, X announced its second league partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB). Arriving this month, the new MLB experience will allow baseball fans to follow and engage in postseason discussions and will organize things like scores and stats, team and league content, plus news, creator content, and real-time discussions.

X said content from other leagues will be added soon, including the NBA.

The expansion of the Gametime feature comes as X continues its efforts to win back advertisers — in this case by leveraging live sports and their highly engaged fans as a way to draw brands back to X.

“In just six weeks, Gametime has evolved from a football-focused product into a scalable destination for sports, attracting strong demand across major advertisers from payments to consumer goods looking to engage highly attentive fans from the pregame conversation through the biggest moments of the game,” said SpaceXAI’s Head of Global Advertising, Monique Pintarelli, in an announcement.

The new feature’s introduction follows X owner Elon Musk’s July settlement in a multiyear legal battle with the advertising trade group the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which X had sued for its alleged “illegal boycott” of the platform.

Some advertisers had become uncomfortable with the platform’s lax moderation standards under Musk, as well as with Musk’s outsized position on the social media site, where he often spouted controversial views and politics via X posts. Musk believed the WFA’s guidelines had steered brands and ad agencies away from X, suggesting it was a place where their ads could appear next to harmful online content.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

  • X will integrate NBA Gametime features by the end of the year

    Likely · Within months

  • Gametime will become a year-round destination for all professional sports as announced

    Possible · Within months

Open Questions

  • When will the NBA and other league integrations be launched?
  • What specific metrics will X use to measure Gametime's success in attracting advertisers?
  • How will X address ongoing advertiser concerns about content moderation and brand safety?

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This article was originally published by TechCrunch.

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