July 12, 2016: Twitter to Stream Both Political Conventions, NBC Predicts Ad Sales Will Increase 15 Percent During Olympics, Snapchat May Host More Sports Content With N.F.L. Discover Deal

1. TWITTER TO STREAM BOTH POLITICAL CONVENTIONS: Just a few days after live streaming Wimbledon, Twitter has inked a deal with CBS to stream both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions at the end of this month. The streams will be available through the social network's Live platform for mobile and web. Wired: "The convention coverage, which will be shot by CBS and its online affiliate CBSN, is part of that push into event-based livestreaming, a fitting move for a company whose core strength has always been real-time events. … 'Twitter is the fastest way to find out what’s happening in politics and to have a discussion about it,' Anthony Noto, Twitter’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. The goal of the livestream, he said, is to give 'people around the world the best way to experience democracy in action.' Just how you’ll find the Twitter Live stream of the conventions is unclear, but CBS will likely tweet out a link to the Live page. A link to the page may also appear in the Twitter Moment for the convention. Either way, a spokesman for Twitter says, 'It won’t be hard to find.' The stream will be available to people who don’t have a Twitter account as well, which should help expose the platform to new users and show them why it’s useful. As the video streams on the live page, the company will also surface Tweets from across the platform that are relevant to that moment, using a combination of hashtags and its own algorithm." http://bit.ly/29xS9ZB

2. NBC PREDICTS AD SALES WILL INCREASE 15 PERCENT DURING OLYMPICS: For next month’s Rio Olympics, NBC predicts it will sell 15 percent more advertising than it did four years ago during the London games. The increase correlates to more live prime time events and deals with more than 100 advertisers. Bloomberg: “With just a one-hour time difference between Rio and New York, more U.S. viewers will have the opportunity to see more events live. London is five hours later than the U.S. east coast, and in 2012 many events were over and the results known by the time American sports fans were settling into their recliners for the day’s events. ‘We are ready and Rio is ready’ said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Sports. ‘This will be the biggest media event in history.’ The higher ad sales are a reminder that major brand marketers continue to spend heavily on commercial time for live sports, which still draw big TV audiences. Viewers will see more auto ads, in part because NBC had exclusive arrangements with General Motors Co. and BMW AG in previous games, Winter said. NBC executives also addressed concerns about the Zika virus in Brazil. Lazarus said “less than two handfuls” of about 2,600 NBC employees headed to Rio asked not to go due to Zika concerns. They were reassigned to work on Olympics coverage from NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.” http://bloom.bg/29umQKe

3. SNAPCHAT MAY HOST MORE SPORTS CONTENT WITH N.F.L. DISCOVER DEAL: There may be more professional football coverage coming to Snapchat, as the National Football League is slated to launch its own Snapchat Discover channel. According to a LinkedIn job posting, the N.F.L. is seeking a managing editor for “content execution” on its own channel, which would join a growing list of media companies on the app's storytelling-focused element. Mashable: “A spot on Discover is a new step for the NFL and Snapchat. Last September, the league and the company inked a year-long deal to create Live Stories—curated collections of photos and videos from fans, players and league employees taken with Snapchat—from the season opener until Super Bowl 50. The NFL’s Discover channel will allow the league to not just be limited to snaps but also to share other types of content such as pre-made videos and articles to Snapchat’s highly-coveted audience of a reported 150 million daily active users. That type of content creation on Snapchat has been limited to media publishers and a select number of brands for the last year and a half. BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan and MTV, for example, are three of just over 20 media outlets that create exclusive content for the Discover section of the app. (Mashable is also a partner on the platform.) … The channel could feature news stories like those written for NFL.com and videos of predictions and player profiles like those made for NFL Now. The NFL did not respond to requests for comment on what the channel will be like and when it will launch. Snapchat declined to comment.” http://on.mash.to/29K14VI


* INDUSTRY NEWS *

Global business information and events company Questex has acquired ExL Events, a company that develops educational conferences for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life-science communities.

* LOCAL NEWS *

ATLANTIC CITY:  The Bachelor host Chris Harrison will also host the 96th Miss America Competition on September 11. The event will be broadcast live from Boardwalk Hall on ABC.

BOSTON:  The Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood Opening Night Gala, which took place July 8, raised $475,000.

HOUSTON:  InterContinental Hotels Group has announced a new 353-room hotel adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Slated to open in 2018, the hotel will offer 11,800 square feet of meeting and event space, which includes seven meeting rooms and a 7,800-square-foot ballroom.

LAS VEGAS:  The Las Vegas trade show industry is exhibiting continued strength in the first half of the year: Through May 2016, more than 3 million visitors traveled to Las Vegas to attend a meeting or convention, a 12.1 percent increase over the same time last year.

Martin Lawrence Galleries' annual V.I.P. Gala, set to take place Saturday at the Forum Shops at Caesars, will have the theme "The Art of Love." The fund-raiser for Raise a Child will feature a culinary presentation from chef Susan Feniger of Border Grill. 

LOS ANGELES:  The culture, music, and art event known as Pow! Wow! returns to Long Beach this week through July 17. Inspired by a similar event in Hawaii, the second annual event in Long Beach centers around artists who will complete a series of urban murals throughout the city.

For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles

MIAMI/SOUTH FLORIDA:  Grove Bay Hospitality Group, which operates the Glass & Vine restaurant in Coconut Grove, has partnered with chefs Jeff McInnis and Janine Booth to create Stiltsville Fish Bar, which is expected to open in Miami's Sunset Harbour neighborhood in 2017. The two-story fish house and bar will be at 1787 Purdy Avenue, in the space formerly occupied by Joe Allen and Pubbelly Steak.

Peppers Authentic Mexican this month is opening a third Miami location, which will be at Dadeland Plaza in the Pinecrest neighborhood. Owned and operated by David Gonzalez and Gonzalo Leon De Bracamonte, the casual eatery is also located in South Beach and Brickell.

NASHVILLE:  The Westin Nashville, opening September 27, has announced plans for its Rhapsody Spa, which will include nine treatment rooms, one couple's treatment room, and three manicure and three pedicure stations. Michelle Young will be the spa's director.

NEW ORLEANS:  Intix, the annual conference from the International Ticketing Association, will hold its 38th edition at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside from January 24-26, 2017. The submission deadline for speaker opportunities is July 22, while grant applications are due September 2. 

NEW YORK:  The Children Museum of the East End's eighth annual Family Fair will take place July 23 in Bridgehampton.

The Nascar Foundation will host its inaugural Honors Gala at the Marriott Marquis on September 27. The gala, which celebrates the donation of $25 million to one million children since 2006, will feature a performance by Rachel Platten and present the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award to a to-be-announced winner.

The sixth annual Gold Coast International Film Festival will take place November 10-15, with screenings at theaters in Great Neck, Port Washington, Roslyn, and Brookville.

BD Hotels, headed by Richard Born and Ira Drukier, is close to signing a deal to buy a stake in and to operate the landmark Hotel Chelsea. Renovations will start in August, and the property will re-open with more than 120 hotel rooms by the second quarter of 2018. The Real Deal: http://bit.ly/29rV9Fu

For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork

ORLANDO/CENTRAL FLORIDA:  Loews Sapphire Falls Resort opens at Universal Orlando on Thursday. The hotel has 1,000 guest rooms and 115,000 square feet of flexible event space.

SAN FRANCISCO:  EventGeek is a new tool for marketers to track all data related to their events in one place, including budgets, expenses, itineraries, venues, guests, and sales.

TORONTO:  Toronto Men's Fashion Week, slated for August 15-21, will move to the Mattamy Athletic Centre, formerly known as Maple Leaf Gardens.

WASHINGTON, D.C.:  On Wednesday, the Washington Government Relations Group—the nation’s oldest organization for African-American government relations professionals—will honor leaders in the government-affairs community at its seventh annual Tin Cup Awards Dinner, to be held at the Embassy of Canada. Award recipients include 82nd U.S. attorney general Eric Holder Jr., U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer, U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge, and B.E.T. chairman/CEO Debra Lee.

All-Purpose Pizzeria is the latest restaurant (after the Salt Line) to sign a lease with Dock 79, a mixed-use waterfront development scheduled to open in 2017 and located at 25 Potomac Avenue SE in the Capitol Riverfront. The eater, from the owners of Red Hen and Boundary Stone, has a menu of deck oven-fired pizza, antipasti, and beverages.

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With contributions from Jenny Berg in Chicago, Alesandra Dubin and Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles, Mitra Sorrells in Orlando, and Carla Hay, Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, Jill Menze, and Ian Zelaya in New York.

BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.

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