Twitter Rolling Out Video Ads at the Top of Members' Timelines
While Twitter's fortunes have been falling lately (its stock has sunk to an all-time low), the company hopes to boost its bottom line with a plan to sell video ads at the top of members' timelines, whether they're viewing on browsers or apps. The program is called First View, and it lets marketers own the top of the timeline for a 24-hour period.
One Twitter customer, 20th Century Fox, says this is a great way to boost word-of-mouth recommendations.
"Word-of-mouth is more important than it has ever been in movie marketing. And there is no better word-of-mouth social platform than Twitter," says Marc Weinstock, president of domestic theatrical marketing for 20th Century Fox. "We are able to hit a broad movie-going audience with great video in a way that not just garners views, but actually creates social momentum."
Twitter is currently selling First View to its managed clients in the United States, and plans to roll it out around the world in the coming months.
The company began allowing videos within tweets early in 2014, and debuted Promoted Video to brands in August 2014.
Today, Twitter announced another change to members' timelines: It will now put "the best tweets" at the top of the timeline so they won't be missed, with the rest of the tweets below in reverse chronological order. Members will need to opt in, and can turn this feature on or off in their settings. Judging the by the #RIPTwitter movement that cropped up when this idea was first leaked, it could have a hard time finding takers.
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