X has announced its 18th X Originals video series, with a new “NFL Top 100” program set to air exclusively on the platform from next week.
As explained by X:
“Produced by NFL Films, ‘NFL Top 100’ will feature three-to-five-minute episodes highlighting the league’s top 100 players, as voted on exclusively by current NFL players. Episodes will debut weekdays at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. ET on X and NFL+ beginning June 30 and running through Friday, August 29.”
So, it’ll also air on NFL+, which makes it a semi-exclusive, I guess. But either way, it’ll give X another big sports show to add to its slate of video programming, as it looks to boost video engagement, in line with its publicly stated “video-first” focus.
X has maintained Twitter’s broadcast partnership with the NFL, and has worked with the league on various activations, including its in-app gameday portal.
And given that sports is the most popular topic of discussion in the app, and the NFL is the most discussed sport, it makes sense for X to make this a focus, especially as Meta looks to incorporate its own sports engagement options on Threads.
It also makes sense for the NFL, with millions of fans engaging in the app.
The series will run for 10 weeks, leading into the 2025 NFL season, and will ideally help to maintain X as a key platform for NFL fans.
Though, given its “video first” focus, X is still lagging behind in terms of original content.
As noted, this will be X’s 18th “X Originals” program, though most of the programming that it’s signed up has been fairly niche.
At this stage, X’s Originals have been:
- Khloe Kardashian in her “Khloe in Wonderland” interview show
- Anthony Pompliano in his business-focused program “From the Desk of Anthony Pompliano”
- Paris Hilton, in a yet-to-be-announced project (which now seems to have been dumped)
- Tucker Carlson, whose interviews had been generating millions of views in the app (before he migrated to his own platform)
- Don Lemon, whose X show was canceled after he interviewed Elon Musk
- Tulsi Gabbard, who had been developing a series of documentary-style programs focused on U.S. politics (now seemingly dumped)
- Jim Rome who’s still airing his show “The Jungle” in the app
- WWE, which is airing a weekly “WWE Speed” show in the app
- The Big 3 league of retired NBA players, which aired weekly games in the app last season (now airing on CBS)
- Rap battle show Verzuz, which is looking to make a comeback on X
- Investment-based show “Going Public”
- Football docu-series “The Offseason”
- NHL’s “4 Nations” tournament
- Athlos athletic events
- Special docu-series “The Art of the Surge” focusing on Trump’s re-election, and “All-In with the Boston Celtics”
X is also set to air a new program with Venus and Serena Williams later in the year, which is another big-name sports program, aligning with X user interests.
But as you can see, X hasn’t really attracted, or held onto any major name content, and it’s hard to view the platform as a “video first” offering as yet, despite what X itself keeps saying.
I had expected X to attract some bigger-name shows, using the connections of CEO Linda Yaccarino, who previously headed ad partnerships at NBCUniversal, and presumably has a huge Rolodex of connections to call up as a result. But thus far, those connections seem to only have brought in some big names from yesteryear, like Paris Hilton, and a lesser Kardashian.
X had also made a splash on political content, signing up various commentators last year. But given the way that the company, and Elon Musk specifically, handled the deal with Don Lemon, that could have also spooked some big names, and kept them away from the app.
But then again, on the flip side, 18 X Originals is significant, and X says that it’s hosted over 300 episodes of its Originals programs over the past two years.
It doesn’t feel like X’s video push is really gaining traction, and its far from what most would consider a “video first” platform as yet. But video views in the app are rising, and as it continues to look for new content partners, maybe that will, eventually, yield more significant growth results for the app.
Which, of course, is the key focus. Despite X’s proclamations of massive innovation and progress, the app is pretty much the same as it was when Elon took over, in terms of functionality at least, and it’s gradually losing users over time, while Threads continues to gain.
That’s seemingly pushing X to refine its programming focus onto its key areas of audience interest, as opposed to promoting political ideology, and that could help to yield better audience results, and engagement, or at the least, keep its key audience segments from drifting off to other apps.
Really, this is the same lesson that Twitter learned with its past video content efforts, that it needs to hone in on what its audience wants, though even then, it could never quite get the balance right, and capitalize on its popularity as a second-screen option for major events.
Will X do better on this front? Right now, it seems like it’s just working to keep a hold on what it has, as the competition heats up for user engagement.
