• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 21, 2013

Continuing its drive to own the social TV space, Twitter on Wednesday announced a new feature that allows networks and brands to promote tweets to people who chatter about certain shows, whether or not a brand is running a TV spot during a given program.

The launch of TV conversation targeting follows the rollout earlier this year of TV ad targeting, which allows brands to send messages to selected Twitter users who are already been exposed to the same TV ads. The new targeting method gives advertisers in the U.S. and the U.K. a way to reach those who engage with particular shows on Twitter, even without airing a commercial.

“Now advertisers can easily reach Twitter users exposed to integrations, sponsorships and other innovative TV tie-ins for an additional touch point or message expansion,” stated a Twitter blog post today. The targeting option, which leverages the company’s conversation mapping technology, might allow Snickers to direct a Promoted Tweet highlighting a product placement to fans of “Big Bang Theory.”

In the last few months, brands such as Betfair, Domino’s, and British Sky Broadcasting have been using conversation targeting to connect millions of Twitter users.

The company plans to expand the feature in the coming weeks to other countries, including Brazil, Canada, France and Spain, with more to follow. Conversation targeting is only the latest move by the microblogging service to position itself as the dominant social TV platform for marketers, media companies and viewers.

Twitter has partnered with Nielsen to launch the Nielsen Twitter TV rating, snapped up social TV analytics firms Bluefin Labs and Trendrr, and has introduced its Amplify service to boost awareness of shows through tweeted video clips. Most recently, the company has teamed with Comcast on a “See It” feature that enables viewers to record NBC Universal programming on digital platforms via tweets starting this month.