Twitter advertising pool grows off the back of cultural and TV moments

Twitter acting MD for Australia shares the latest insights into the social media platform's advertiser base and how brands are tapping both cultural and TV tentpole moments to drive engagement

Heightened consumer demand to connect authentically around cultural conversations as well as tentpole TV moments are triggering strong growth in the number of brands investing marketing dollars into Twitter globally and locally.  

According to Twitter acting MD, Angus Keene, the social media platform is not only seeing new brands coming onboard to test its platform for the first time, its finding existing partners are also doing more across the marketing funnel. He noted both a desire to connect with what’s happening in the world, as well as to launch new products and services, as catalysts for growing brand engagement.  

This brand boon has led to an 87 per cent increase in ad revenue for Twitter globally during the last quarter to 30 June 2021 to US$1.05 billion. The social media platform also recently reported an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in its global monetizable daily active users to 206 million.  

“We are the undisputed home for breaking news and real-time conversations around a varied set of topics, from sports to music, entertainment, tech, gaming, business and much more. These are defining culture as well as what’s trending globally,” Keene told CMO. “It’s also why our audience is so special and valuable.”  

Keene pointed to Twitter global research, which found eight in 10 users consider themselves opinion leaders. More than four in 10 (41 per cent) are also more likely than non-Twitter users to recommend products to friends and family.  

Angus KeeneCredit: Twitter
Angus Keene


“It means brands are tapping into a highly engaged and influential audience, to launch something new, and connect around big cultural moments and movements,” he said.    

Arguably, one of the biggest areas of advertiser growth is the connection between social and TV viewing, whatever the consumption platform. This has seen media and entertainment brands and in particular, streaming services, becoming more engaged Twitter clients.  

A global research study conducted by the platform showed 44 per cent of consumers use of Twitter while watching TV. In addition, Kantar meta-analysis studies in Australia showed combining TV with Twitter delivered +5 per cent incremental reach for brands, Keene said.  

“These providers are asking how to partner deeply with us, so it’s not just spots and dots, but what they can do at launch to drive conversation around their offering,” Keene said. Recent local examples include partnering with Paramount+ on its Australian debut, plus additional activities with Stan, Binge, Kayo and Netflix.  

“Media and entertainment globally has also significantly increased over the last couple of years for Twitter. If anything, Australia is catching up and we’re seeing a lot of engagement with those streaming brands.”    

Outside of the providers themselves, Keene cited growing numbers of brands looking to capitalise on other tentpole TV moments, from The Bachelor finale to the AFL grand final. During the recent Tokyo Olympics for example, Woolworths and Channel Seven both used Twitter to engage consumers, with daily updates based on trending and interest signals provided to help inform the way they communicated with audiences. Twitter chalked up 227 million impressions between 23-31 July 2021.    

Optus' sporty Twitter campaigning  

Another example Keene pointed to was Optus and the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships, one of the biggest cultural moments for football fans this year. Looking to create the ultimate fan experience for football lovers in Australia, Optus partnered with Twitter on a campaign that would build awareness and drive brand association with sports, as well as deliver a call to action and conversion opportunity.  

The objective was to give fans an easy way to catchup on the games given the time difference. The campaign encouraged consumers to heart Tweets coming out from Optus Sport in order to receive daily, personalised updates across the tournament. Each branded Twitter moment featured highlights, analysis, plus a subscription offer from Optus Sports.  

In addition, the telco used Twitter’s Takeover product two weeks in advance of the tournament kick-off as well as across the opening weekend, to create hype and awareness around the offer. It also created a branded Emoji alongside the hashtag, #Euro2020, while a Twitter image card was used to highlight the Optus sports subscription offer. Targeting and personalisation was driven by conversation signals as well as interests.  

The combination of paid and organic Tweets garnered 44.7 per cent impressions over the six-week campaign period. Optus also grew followers by 14 per cent and recorded a 112 per cent increase in people visiting its profile over the timeframe.  

Keene described is a great example of a brand delivering engagement around conversational moments during and post-games while also presenting a lower funnel call to action.  

“This campaign was the perfect opportunity to strengthen our relationship with new and existing football fans and Twitter had the right tools to help Optus Sport achieve success,” Optus VP marketing, Melissa Hopkins, said. “This was not just a football tournament but a cultural event, so it was important for this campaign to reach a broader audience beyond football.” 

Keene said investments into product enhancements and reporting for advertisers further helped improve effectiveness. One of these was the relaunch of the Twitter Takeover product, delivering a 72 per cent increase in ad impressions.

"We are also heavily invested in performance and driving those marketing metrics. We are rebuilding our mobile app download product as well as improving website clicks and conversions product. And we're making ongoing improvements to our video solutions to meet marketing objectives," he added. 

 Don’t miss out on the wealth of insight and content provided by CMO A/NZ and sign up to our weekly CMO Digest newsletters and information services here.  

You can also follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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