Twitter users actually do want to engage with video content. That’s according to Kay Madati, Vice President and Global Head of Partnerships at the social network, who says the company is doubling down on the strategy. “At the core of it, people actually do come to the platform and consume content and stick around,” Madati told Cheddar in an interview at SXSW. Last week, Twitter announced an exclusive partnership with Major League Soccer, including live-streaming some matches on the platform. And just last quarter, it streamed over 1,100 live events. “We’ll probably actually scale that number even further in Q1 of this year,” said Madati. Twitter’s commitment to video extends to its media partnerships. Madati, who was BET’s Chief Digital Officer before assuming this role at Twitter, told Cheddar he’s seen how partnerships work for the social network from the other side of the equation and brings that experience to his new role. Instead of disrupting the consumer’s relationship with the media organization, Twitter “is here to actually...show you that we have additive audiences on our platform who very well may not be watching you on other platforms.” “Twitter fundamentally seeks to be an extension of our partners’ reach,” said Madati. “We care just as much about our partners’ business models...as we do [about] what that content then means on our platform.” Rival Facebook took a major gamble on live videos a couple years ago, paying publishers to create quality content on the platform. Then last year, it started scaling back funding for those publishers and shifted its strategy. Now, Twitter is hoping that by stepping into the void, it can get those publishers to create original content on its own platform and lure in more users. For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/twitter-inks-3-year-streaming-deal-with-mls).
