WhatsApp's View Once, Sky Sports and Harry Pinero are teaming up for transfer deadline day – wait, what?

As far as we can tell, Harry will be getting footie transfer updates via WhatsApp and telling us about them on Sky

Sky WhatsApp Harry Pinero Transfer Deadline Day
(Image credit: Sky)
Duncan Bell
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WhatsApp has had some great upgrades of late, with one of the most popular being a Snapchat-style View Once photo and video option. This lets you send an image or clip to anyone, and have it self-destruct shortly after. And no: this is NOT just for sending nudes and threats. No, no, no. And to prove this, Sky and WhatsApp have teamed up… for football's Transfer Deadline Day… with Harry Pinero… who is an Instagram influencer. Wait, what?

Okay, let's 'unpack this' as they say on American online news sites. Sky says that the 'WhatsApp and Sky Media partnership invites fans into the world of Football Transfers as they’ve never seen them before.' Okay. Furthermore, 'WhatsApp’s new View Once feature gives Harry Pinero and fans the inside scoop in real time on Transfer Deadline Day.' Right, got that? He'd better get a move on, as Transfer Deadline Day is today (August 31) and all business must be concluded by 11pm BST.

Harry Pinero has this to say about it. I love Twitter embeds, they're such a great way to fill space…

Harry Pinero

Harry appearing on the Poet & Vuj YouTube channel

(Image credit: Poet & Vuj/YouTube)

So, as far as I can work out, Harry P – Sir Harrington I to his friends – is on Sky Sports today, pursuing leads on who is transferring from what soccer club to what other soccer club, fed to him by Sky Sports, via View Once photos and videos on WhatsApp. 

It seems that Harry started on Oxford Street and then set off on 'a Transfer Deadline treasure hunt' to be broadcast live from 'near football stadiums in London and in studio.' So he might be at Tottenham's ground for the lastest news on Harry Kane's on/off/very off transfer to anywhere but Spurs. Or he might be at Arsenal's Emirates stadium as the poor unfortunates there queue up to leave, and/or unfeasibly over-priced has-beens arrive from the continent.

Six live in-show segments 'at peak viewing times' will find mister Pinero on the streets of North London, talking to fans, or back in the studio chatting with Sky's extensive roster of reporters and pundits about the latest transfer gossip and deals. Clips will also appear across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Sky assures us that 'View Once photos and videos on WhatsApp will play a key role in the segments’ content.' 

Sky WhatsApp Harry Pinero Transfer Deadline Day

(Image credit: Sky)

So basically, it's a big product placement thing for WhatsApp View Once, to prove that, no, it is not just for sending people photos of your naked flesh. Hoorah! 

Whatever you think of that, WhatsApp us undeniably popular with soccer fans – well, it's popular with everyone, let's face it. Furthermore, Transfer Deadline Day is undoubtedly one of the most high-profile and weirdly popular dates in the footballing calendar and Sky is going all out with a full, cross-platform onslaught of content to celebrate it. 

Eshan Ponnadurai, WhatsApp’s Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing, says, “Transfer Deadline Day is one of the highlights of the new football season. WhatsApp plays a natural part of Transfer Deadline Day… particularly sharing news in a private and secure manner. View Once lets every fan send photos and videos that disappear so people can feel confident sharing their thoughts and reactions with an additional layer of privacy on WhatsApp.”

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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