Preparing for Twitter's New 6-Second Ad Bidding

Twitter has announced a 6-second ad video option for companies, wherein a business would only be charged for the ad if a consumer watches the ad for a full six seconds. Given the fact that mobile video consumption has reached a level where it's at a record high, studies are now showing that the impact a brand has on consumers generally takes place in mere seconds when video ads are used.Twitter has sponsored a recent study by EyeSee which determined that video lasting six seconds or less, with a clear branding message, promotes much better ad recall and message association on mobile devices than on any other format. Of course, this kind of optimal video viewing experience increases brand recognition and sales significantly. The study also showed that consumers rarely watch an entire video message which exceeds six seconds, and the longer an ad is past six seconds, the lower the chances it will be watched.

Intent of the new video ads

Twitter's announced intention with these new 6-second video ads is to allow businesses to get their video stories displayed to their most valuable audience right at the time they are in the most receptive mood. This is intended to give advertisers the security of making longer view transactions, while still providing the best possible experience of the short-form mobile video, directly to those individuals they are trying to reach.Advertisers will only be charged if and when their ads are viewed for the entire six seconds, and that standard will be achieved when pixels at 50% are in view. This form of biddable advertising will be available in several formats, including in-stream video sponsorships, promoted video, and in-stream video ads, to include assets which have a duration of 15 seconds or less.

Where 6-second ads will appear

Promoted video is a format which makes use of ads that are displayed in a person's home feed. When the video first appears, the user has the option of tapping on it, so that it can be seen in a larger view. The video can also be replayed or watched with audio accompaniment. The intent of promoted video is to increase brand awareness, as well as video views and traffic, thus increasing conversions for some type of marketing campaign.

Twitter markets in-stream video sponsorships as a prime vehicle for the amplification and monetization of premium content on the platform. This content would include live video, video clips, and additional kinds of storytelling formats such as Sponsored Moments. Sponsorships like these are intended to promote meaningful reach and revenue for any given brand, as well as to provide premium alignment of marketing message and brand.In-stream video ads include all those videos which are streamed prior to, during, or at the end of a specific video that a viewer already happens to be watching. In effect, it means that the audience is a captive one, and is at least somewhat receptive to the video material being presented. The big advantage of in-stream video is that it enables an ad to be streamed within the same timeline of a video which has already been targeted for a given audience.So when a user chooses to watch a particular review of a mobile phone, the in-stream ad might pop up to promote the benefits of a particular mobile phone. In this situation, the viewer really has no choice but to watch the entire video, including the in-stream ad, or to completely opt out of watching the whole video altogether.

Video consumption on Twitter

Unlike some other platforms, Twitter does not force viewers to watch anything, and its native video consumption is by and large much shorter and more by chance. Users on this platform tend to discover fresh and relevant content simply by scrolling through their personal feed and discovering something of interest to them.Any business launching a new product or trying to connect a brand message with targeted individuals around the world can therefore maximize their impact with that target audience by placing these types of ads in the feed. This option is seen as a very flexible one for advertisers who are interested in the metric for completed viewing. It also has the potential to be very valuable for business personnel who are trying to make the leap into the mobile-first paradigm, and to begin developing short-form assets to be used for in-feed viewing.

How will the new ads be received?

The survey conducted by EyeSee determined that the optimal duration for a video ad was somewhere around three seconds, at least in terms of message association and product recall. This means that Twitter's new 6-second bidding ads are well within range for having enough time to achieve an optimal response with consumers. It is expected that video advertisers will continue to publish their on-platform video ads just as they had been the past.However, this new option will allow them to avoid being charged at all, unless the full six seconds of the video ad is viewed by consumers. This should provide another very flexible option for advertisers, enabling them to prepare video ads which are optimized for completed viewing. It should also place more reliance on Twitter's system to highlight advertising content to the appropriate audiences, which are those individuals likelier to view ads for the full six seconds.The new video option has already been made available to all advertisers around the globe, so short-form mobile videos are likely to start being produced by enterprising companies all around the world. There should be a huge market for this kind of advertising, because it's almost a can't lose type of option. If people aren't watching your videos, you won't be charged anything for the advertising. However, if huge numbers of people are watching the videos, you will be charged for them, but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have reached a large portion of your target audience, and they've likely retained the information you wanted them to.