Twitter plans to incorporate full-screen vertical Fleets which enable brands to post ads in the form of ‘billboards’.
Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) stock has dropped approximately 0.94% to trade around $56.90 at the time of writing. Twitter has unveiled plans to start testing Fleet ads.
Fleets enable users to post transient updates including photos, videos, text, and tweet reactions similar to competitors’ Instagram and Facebook stories. Last November, Twitter rolled out Fleets to all of its users after successful testing. Posted Fleets show at the top screen of users’ mobile apps just above their feeds. Twitter Fleet ads were developed as a new way of user monetization and revenue generation. However, Twitter declined to give actual figures on Fleet usage.
In Q1, Twitter’s ad revenue had reportedly grown 32% year on year to $899 million with their total ad engagement rising by 11% during the same period. However, the total number of monetizable daily active users (mDAU) globally was 199 million users as reported in the last quarter. This is contrary to the 200 million mDAU that the company had aimed for. Development of new features is nevertheless ongoing to grow the number of mDAU to 315 million by the end of 2023.
According to metrics provided by MarketWatch, the Twitter stock has dropped approximately 18.94% in the past 3 months. However, the company has recorded gains of approximately 6.08% and 64.68% year to date and last year respectively.
Twitter Fleet Ads and Monetization
For ads, Twitter plans to incorporate full-screen vertical Fleets which enable brands to post ads in the form of ‘billboards’. Users interested in advertised products can access this information via a ‘swipe-up option on the ad.
Additionally, pilot Fleet ads will be shown to a limited number of users in the US only on both iOS and Android from Tuesday. The ads will be non-intrusive and will bring value to people. A total of ten advertisers, including Wendy’s, will take part in the test. These are brands dealing in tech, consumer packaged goods, and retail and dining spaces.
The experiments, Twitter said, will be focused on acquiring data about users’ feelings and engagement with Fleet ads. This information will help the company better understand ad performance for customers for use in the current Fleets and also future full-screen ad formats.
The Fleet ads mark another one of Twitter’s new products. Others that have been launched include Twitter Blue paid subscriptions and a pilot study on ‘shoppable tweets’. The company also linked Nielsen’s cross-media planning and measurement suite with Twitter’s video ad platform. The latter’s purpose was the measurement of audience and outcomes for video ads.
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