Twitter Launches TV Ad Targeting Beta For Select Advertisers

Powered by its acquisition of Bluefin Labs, Twitter has launched TV ad targeting for Promoted Tweets. The service launches today in a limited beta for select advertisers running national TV campaigns in the U.S.

Twitter is aiming to help marketers reach the 64 percent of users who use Twitter while watching TV at home. According to the company, 32 million people in the U.S. tweeted about TV programs last year. TV ad targeting is designed to give brands the ability to engage with consumers on Twitter who have seen their ads on TV.

As part of the new service, advertisers will have access to a new TV Ads dashboard. The dashboard will show when a brand’s TV ads have aired to help marketers align their Twitter engagement with what’s shown on TV.  That information can also be used to tailor Promoted Tweet content to complement a brand’s campaign messaging.

Twitter says the ad targeting functions by using “video fingerprinting technology” that detects when and where TV commercials run. No manual tracking or data upload is required.

When a TV ad runs during a show, Twitter can identify users who tweeted about the program in the region(s) where the ad ran. Twitter then makes the assumption that a user who tweets about a show is likely engaged enough to have also seen the brand’s ad.

Twitter acquired Bluefin Labs in February to help build out new ad products and increase consumer engagement in social TV. In December of last year, the company teamed up with Nielsen to develop the “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating” to measure the second screen engagement television shows on Twitter.