At the flurry of the release of Twitter’s new advertising products Starcom MediaVest Group, a division of Publicis, has entered into a breakthrough deal with the micro-blogging company. Publicis is a global advertising giant. This is the biggest advertising deal that Twitter has signed by far.
This announcement comes at a rather critical time. In a few weeks, television networks in the United States are set to sell an estimated ¾ of their commercial inventory. This is an annual marketing event. With this deal in place, it is very likely that television companies might be pressured into adding more digital and social media offers.
“Twitter is a bridge”
Now more than ever, people are using mobile devices to watch their favorite television programs. The partnership emerged just in time for Twitter to serve as a bridge between social media networking and television. According to the president of global revenue for Twitter, Adam Bain, the industry has been focusing on the wrong arena before. And now that a study by Nielsen says that there is indeed a strong correlation between TV ratings and Twitter volume, Starcom MediaVest Group would definitely feel confident about their recent merger.
The CEO of Publicis said that Starcom Media Vest Group will use whatever means necessary – video, pop-ups, new formats in order to “commercialize the space” and “monetize the audience” on Twitter. Evidently, there are already plans to level up revenues from digital advertising.
The deal
The deal is estimated to be worth hundreds of million dollars spread out over a few years. This new partnership does not limit Twitter in any way because it is not exclusive. Twitter can choose to enter into a similar relationship with other companies. One of the accessory benefits of this deal is that it increases the credibility of Twitter’s advertising platforms. Observers are saying that this recent development is a reflection of the increasing role and importance of the micro-blogging experiment turned social media giant.
Starcom MediaVest Groups’ clients include Microsoft, Procter and Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Walmart. With the deal in place these consumer giants get preferred slots to advertise on the micro-blogging site. They also get priority at the in-tweet mobile survey program that allows them to ask customers their opinion in real time. And these are just the initial benefits that the deal could offer them. The details of the partnership had not yet been divulged fully as of this writing.
The future
The global chief executive of Starcom MediaVest Group, Laura Desmond said that the convergence is a confirmation that Twitter is now essential whereas it originally started as an experiment. She adds that this is a signal to the marketplace that this is how their company intends to do business. “This is the future,” she reiterated.
And the future is looking only too good for Twitter. eMarketer predicts that the company’s global revenues are expected to double this year to more than $500 million from an already impressive $288.3 million last year.
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