Brands can create videos up to 10 minutes long.
Twitter is about to give marketers new ways to share videos with a feature the ad world has been asking for: autoplay. Twitter has been working on its built-in video system for months, which would finally give users and marketers a way to shoot footage within the app.
The company has been showing off its video plans to marketers at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, where it met with many of the top brands, media buyers and creative agencies. Last month, Adweek reported that Twitter was considering allowing videos to automatically play when users scroll over them, similar to an innovation Facebook added last year. It's a catchy way to grab users' attention and one brands love.
Video is an increasingly important part of social sharing, and one that all the major tech companies—Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Snapchat and Pinterest—stressed at this year's tech conference. This week, Facebook shared stats that show video uploads tripled on its network in the past year. Sources said video views have reached 3 billion a day.
The rush of social video has caught YouTube by surprise as it looks to maintain dominance in the space.
Twitter has always had its hand in video, and of course owns Vine, which helped spark a social video moment with its six-second clip format. Now, in the coming weeks Twitter will finally unveil a native video feature, as Re/code first reported.
However, the video capabilities will be different for users and brands. We spoke with industry insiders who saw Twitter's video pitch at CES, and here's what it will look like:
Six-seconds to wow
The autoplay feature allows marketers to create a six-second video preview, a quick opportunity to entice users to click.
The autoplay feature allows marketers to create a six-second video preview, a quick opportunity to entice users to click.
Choose wisely
The six-second preview, however, does not have to be the first six of the video. Brands can take the best six seconds, the most captivating, and use that as the autoplay preview. Everyone knows that getting clicks on video is all about an exciting hook from the start.
The six-second preview, however, does not have to be the first six of the video. Brands can take the best six seconds, the most captivating, and use that as the autoplay preview. Everyone knows that getting clicks on video is all about an exciting hook from the start.
No sound to start
The autoplay video will not have sound until a user clicks to watch the promoted tweet. Advertisers don't pay until they get that click.
The autoplay video will not have sound until a user clicks to watch the promoted tweet. Advertisers don't pay until they get that click.
There's a lot of time to play with
Brands will be offered up to 10 minutes of video time, which is an eternity in social media. Everyday users will only get 30 seconds.
Brands will be offered up to 10 minutes of video time, which is an eternity in social media. Everyday users will only get 30 seconds.
