Twitter says it will start adding full-screen ads to Fleets, supporting images and videos that can be up to 30 seconds long, initially in US on iOS and Android
A handful of advertisers will begin testing the format Tuesday — Twitter said Tuesday it will start adding full-screen ads to Fleets …
The VergeKim Lyons
Context & Ripple Effects
Fleets began as a disappearing-post format test in Brazil, giving Twitter a distinct, temporary canvas alongside its main timeline. The new ad unit turns that canvas into inventory for a small initial group of advertisers.
Twitter had already built toward more visual advertising through auto-playing video and GIFs and a promoted-tweet carousel format. Full-screen Fleets ads extend that progression into a placement designed around images and short video.
First-order effects
Twitter gains a new US mobile ad placement in Fleets, while the initial advertisers gain access to full-screen image and video creative of up to 30 seconds.
Fleets users on iOS and Android will encounter advertising inside a format that had previously centered on short-lived user posts.
Second-order effects
Advertisers testing Fleets must adapt campaign assets for vertical, full-screen viewing rather than relying only on timeline-style promoted tweets.
Twitter's sales operation can package Fleets alongside its existing visual ad formats, giving brands another way to run video-led campaigns on the service.
Third-order effects
If Twitter continues adding monetization to temporary and visual surfaces, its advertising business shifts further from text-led promoted posts toward placement-specific creative formats.
The pattern makes product-surface design more consequential for Twitter's ad inventory: new user experiences can also become new units for advertisers, not just engagement features.
The trend: Twitter is turning visual, mobile-first product formats into differentiated advertising inventory.
Watch a 30 seconds Ad before you can view a 5 second Fleet. Good that they allow muting of Fleets, I guess. Empty Fleet bar for many users, #Dickbar 2.0!! https://twitter.com/...
@CaseyNewton As a viewer (i.e. people who consume the ads), the main missing piece is the performance lag. Agree that creative tools are lacking but I don't why that should prevent monetizing an end user experience that is close to at par with peers.
Other platforms that added stories spent a *lot* more time polishing the product experience before choking it with ads. This feels way premature https://twitter.com/...