On Tuesday Facebook users had the option to stream a full Dodgers vs. Rangers game from their Facebook account. The game, seen in the screenshot above is a pre-season matchup and users couldn’t increase the games display size without clicking on the image which took users to the official MLB.TV website.
Once on MLB.TV users could then sign up to watch the game for free on a full screen and even sign up for a season-long subscription at a cost of $120 or less than $1 per game for your favorite team.
While the move shows that creative adverts are being tested by Facebook and their partners, the true test according to MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman is to examine how well Facebook can promote the league which will offer free games all pre-season.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been testing the same type of advertising, allowing Facebook users to watch regular matches, while attempting to upsell viewers for championship level fights.
According to Peter Kafka at AllThings D , there’s a chance that MLB.TV may run a free game each day during the regular season as they have done in the past on mobile devices, however no plans have been announced in that respect at this time.
Bowman says MLB.TV isn’t planning on selling single games through the social network at this time or offering full streaming capabilities through the networkd, however with Facebook credits readily available, a positive test case could lead in that direction, depending on the type of cut Facebook would want to take in order to achieve distribution to their site users.
What do you think about the MLB.TV and Facebook partnership at this point?
