Twitter and Bloomberg Media Announce Live Streaming Partnership for U.S. Presidential Debates


SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK — Twitter and Bloomberg Media today announced a partnership to stream Bloomberg Television’s live broadcast of the 2016 U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential debates on Twitter. The agreement is an expansion of the partnership Twitter and Bloomberg Media announced in July to stream select Bloomberg Television programs.

Twitter will stream Bloomberg Television’s live broadcast of the scheduled U.S. Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, beginning on Monday, September 26th. The stream will also include special Bloomberg Politics programming thirty minutes before and after each debate, which will be led by Bloomberg Politics Managing Editors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Additional Bloomberg Politics talent, reporting, and expert analysis will contribute to the coverage.

“Twitter is where the 2016 presidential election is happening every single day,” said Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer. “Livestreaming the debates with Bloomberg combined with the live commentary and conversation on Twitter will create a one-screen experience at the center of the action unlike any other.”

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Twitter to include our coverage of the U.S. presidential debates during this unprecedented and remarkable U.S. election,” said Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith. “Bloomberg’s non-partisan political coverage stands out from the crowd for its independence and quality. By leveraging the power of Twitter’s enormous real-time platform for reaction and analysis, this partnership will provide viewers the opportunity to watch and interact with the news coming from this fall’s debates as they happen live on smartphones, computers and TVs.”

The stream will be available globally at debates.twitter.com, in Twitter Moments or on @bpolitics. Bloomberg is Twitter’s exclusive streaming partner for the debates.

Debate schedule:
Monday, September 26th, First Presidential Debate
Tuesday, October 4th, Vice Presidential Debate
Sunday, October 9th, Second Presidential Debate
Wednesday, October 19th, Third Presidential Debate

Additional Bloomberg Politics’ debate coverage will include special editions of “With All Due Respect” (5-6 PM ET) shot live on location and hosted by Halperin and Heilemann, as well as a number of short-form digital videos. Bloomberg Media is the consumer-facing media organization of Bloomberg LP – the world’s leading multi-platform media company for business and finance. Bloomberg Media draws on 2,400 journalists in more than 150 bureaus in 73 countries and delivers news across digital, TV, radio, print magazines and live events. Bloomberg Television is available in more than 360 million households worldwide and across more than 70 countries, and is streamed live on the company’s digital and mobile properties. Bloomberg TV and Radio have the highest median household and personal incomes of all measured broadcasters according to the 2015 Ipsos Affluent Survey.

In total, Tweets sent during both the first Democratic and Republican primary debates in 2016 received over one billion impressions, and over half of all Tweets sent about the 2016 election are from people 25 years old and younger. There were ten million Tweets sent during the first U.S. Presidential debate of the 2012 election cycle, which was the most watched U.S. Presidential debate in history.

About Twitter 
Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) is what’s happening in the world right now. From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics, from big events to everyday interests. If it’s happening anywhere, it’s happening first on Twitter. Twitter is where the full story unfolds with all the live commentary and where live events come to life unlike anywhere else. Twitter is available in more than 40 languages around the world. The service can be accessed at Twitter.com, on a variety of mobile devices and via SMS. For more information, visit about.twitter.com or follow @twitter.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service, which provides real time financial information to more than 325,000 subscribers globally. For more information, visit www.bloomberg.com/company.

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Contact for Twitter:
Nick Pacilio
npacilio@twitter.com
858-774-8801

Contacts for Bloomberg:
Amanda Cowie
acowie@bloomberg.net
212-617-1689

TJ Ducklo
tducklo1@bloomberg.net
212-617-4898