Twitter Positioned As Share Loser To Facebook, Google; Can Live-Streaming Deals Turn It Around?

Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) wasn't viewed by many as being the leader in the social media space in terms of ability to monetize content, time spent on the platform, and total user growth.

Investors are now asking a new question that could change the narrative: can a notable expansion in video and live content help the company regain ad dollars and/or help user growth?

According to Cantor Fitzgerald's Kip Paulson, Twitter's announcement of 14 new or expanded content deals will add hundreds of hours worth of exclusive content to the platform. The analyst believes that while the new content will offset part of the losses from losing an NFL deal to broadcast Thursday night games, it's too early in the game to become bullish.

Specifically, the analyst argued it's not yet appropriate to turn positive on Twitter's new live-streaming strategy, especially given its "sluggish" monthly active user growth and declines in its traditional promoted Tweets.

Moreover, investors need to keep in mind that Twitter's shorter-term goals of growing users, advertisers and monetization remains "challenging." As such, Twitter's position as a "share loser" to other social media and online entertainment giants like Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) remains unchanged for at least the time being.

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