Trying to improve its revenue forecast, Twitter is going to start selling pre-roll ads against Periscope video.
At least for now, the new ad units will only appear before Periscope videos
that run within Twitter’s platform, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
“We’re extending our pre-roll program to include Periscope video on Twitter,” she said.
“This is exciting for creators and publishers who now can monetize the content they create on Periscope and exciting for brands who now have more types of video to advertise against,” the
spokeswoman added.
Brands familiar with Twitter’s Amplify ad program can expect to have the same level of control over these new pre-roll units, the social giant promises.
As its
business outlook dims, Twitter is obviously in search of new revenue streams. For the first time, for instance, the company recently announced plans to host its own presentation during the Digital
Content Newfronts. Along with other platforms and publishers, Twitter plans to vie for a piece of brands’ annual ad budgets, on May 1.
Twitter is also pondering a premium Tweetdeck-like
service for professionals willing to pay for social insights.
In the fourth quarter, Twitter saw revenue
increase by just 1% to $717 million, year-over-year, while monthly active users were up just 4% to 319 million.
Worse yet, ad revenue totaled $638 million, down slightly year-over-year.
Analysts didn’t hide their disappointment with the once-high-flying company.
“Current quarter results were weaker-than-expected, with a big negative from what guidance implies
about the coming quarter and the year,” Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said in a recent investor note. “We are altering our long-term forecasts on the company and reducing our
price target from $17 to $15 on a [year ending 2017] basis,” he said.