Have you heard of a thing called scroll blindness? It is the “state by which a human being is blind to meaningful information as the information is going by too fast or in too complex a form.” It’s basically the new banner blindness, “where visitors to a website consciously or subconsciously ignore banner-like information, which can also be called adblindness or banner noise.” Twitter is rolling out a potential solution for advertisers who are looking for maximum visibility and engagement on the social network.
This solution is called First View, which is Twitter’s latest ad effort that gives advertisers billboard positioning for video ads in the top ad spot, which would be located under an organic tweet, in targeted users’ timelines for 24 hours.
So if you, as a user, were to visit Twitter via the app or desktop version of the social network, for the first time during that 24 hour period, you’ll be shown a Promoted Video in the top ad spot, which you’d see above the fold. With this ad placement in effect, the advertiser’s ad will at least be noticed and hopefully engaged with before being swiped away through the rest of your timeline.
At this point in time, the purpose of this ad placement is so that brand and media advertisers looking to get maximum viewability for their video campaign on Twitter.
One of the launch advertisers to use First View is 20th Century Fox, who is using the feature to promote their trailer for the movie, “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” along with the Promoted Trend, #MikeAndDaveNeedYou. Marc Weinstock, the president of marketing of First View said, “We are able to hit a broad movie-going audience with great video in a way that not just garners views, but actually creates social momentum.”
If a Promoted Video is played in view for at least three seconds, or the user clicks on the video to watch it with sound in full-screen mode, the advertiser is then charged for that video. Not only is this method of advertising great for those advertising their brands, the views should help Twitter boost ad revenue from Promoted Videos. Currently, Twitter has come under fire from investors for slow user growth, and from users who have complained about the rumor of algorithmic timeline changes that sent #RIPTwitter trending.
This new ad placement is rolling out slowly to managed clients in the US. The company says that they’re planning on expanding First View globally for self-managed accounts in the coming months.