Twitter goes all-in on live video with new ad options, content partners

At All That Matters in Singapore this morning, Twitter announced a boatload of new video from 35 content partners in the sports, entertainment and news realms, alongside new-to-Asia video-ad options that will appear first in Australia before rolling out across the region.

The advertising options, detailed in a blog post, include pre-roll and mid-stream ads.

Twitter has clearly understood for some time that being the place where people talk about videos they are watching elsewhere won't provide the kind of results its investors want to see. The extensive list of content providers unveiled today—including the International Cricket Council (ICC), Channel 7 Sports, Fox Sports Asia, Riot Games, KBS Music Bank, the Filmfare Awards, the ARIA Awards, Bloomberg Asia Pacific and Buzzfeed Japan—is arguably the company's strongest argument yet that it is transforming itself. 

That said, whether consumers will take to Twitter as an ad-driven video-streaming network remains to be seen. 

Twitter said today's announcement represents hundreds of hours of new exclusive video content. 

In an 'upfront'-style presentation today, Twitter executives Matthew Derella, global VP of revenue and operations; Maya Hari, APAC MD; and Bo Han, director for live partnerships, presented the video content, flanked by representatives from ARIA, Bloomberg and Fox Sports, among others.

"Introducing over 35 live and in-stream video sponsorship deals today to APAC advertisers will strengthen the success of our only-on-Twitter experience in the region and globally, combining high-quality streaming video with conversation on what's happening in the world right now," Hari said in a release. 

@bohan in ����#AllThatMatters announcing 35! content partnerships across sports news and entertainment in apac. ������⬇️ #TwitterFronts pic.twitter.com/KygfqQoKRu

— matt derella (@Derella) September 13, 2017

"I think brands and marketers will definitely welcome another viable platform to reach out to their consumers," Jean-Marc Thomas, head of digital at Carat Asia Pacific, told Campaign Asia-Pacific when asked about the impact of the Twitter announcements. "It will, however, be an additional environment which the brands must understand." Twitter users are on the platform to look for news, so selection of the audience, preparation of ads and timing will be crucial for a successful campaigns. "Brands simply cannot be late on Twitter, and they should leverage on the fresh content and news as much as possible," he said.

Having additional video advertising options will make Twitter more attractive for brands, Thomas said. "Most consumers are already used to seeing ads as pre-rolls or mid-rolls like within YouTube, so I don’t think they will be surprised to get those ads on Twitter as well," he added.