MIAMI – As Twitter endeavors to future-proof itself, live video has been trending this year. The traditional 140-character communications platform sees “global video solutions” as a way of letting users view and communicate with all sorts of characters—with advertisers in tow.
“If you open up that app today, it looks a hell of a lot different” than the typed-character limitation landscape of yore, Ryan Moore, the company’s Global Agency Development Lead, says during a panel discussion during the recent Beet.TV Retreat 2016. “It looks like video from marketers. It looks like video from users.”
According to Moore, the amount of videos that were published by Twitter users increased 50% this year, “so the way that we’re communicating these types of platforms is increasingly visual.”
Twitter has largely staked its future on “pulling live television directly onto the phone,” beginning with such content as NFL, NHL and NBA games.
“We’re moving pretty quickly into this world, and I think it’s more and more important that we understand the needs and constraints of this industry as we try to fit into that in a more video-centric way,” Moore says.
Asked by panel moderator Matt Spiegel of MediaLink why Twitter is the appropriate platform to combine social engagement with live video viewing, Moore explains why Twitter users choose to have it on their phone in the first place.
“When you tap that little bluebird, you tap it because you want to find out what’s happening right now in a world you care about,” says Moore. “It’s the fastest, most personalized and comprehensive source of information that you care about.”
So the natural extension is live video, with the whole experience replacing watching a television while following tweets on a mobile device. “Why don’t we bring those together on one screen?” Moore says.
Asked by Spiegel about marketer uptake to Twitter’s live video offerings, Moore says, “It was a relatively easy sell to bring it to market. Sales have been really strong for all of the partnerships that we’ve launched.”
This interview was conducted at Beet Retreat 2016: The Transformation of Television Advertising, an executive retreat presented by Videology with AT&T AdWorks and the 605. Please find more videos from the event here.
