• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, June 3, 2021

Just the mention of something called full-screen ads makes one think of all kinds possibilities. Are we talking about TV?

Actually, we are talking about Twitter advertising that takes over a full-screen.

Hyperbole fits big here. Twitter is calling it “full screen billboards’ [Emphasis added.].

These ads will appear in Twitter’s Fleets content post -- as in "fleeting." Content here comes and goes after 24 hours -- and we suspect advertising messaging, as well.

Sure, you can always expanded video (or other) advertising content on one’s mobile device. But this takes over the screen automatically. All this looks to heighten the social-media platform's efforts around whatever premium pricing is attached to this messaging opportunity.

The news comes in the middle of the traditional TV upfront market, which is ready to move with -- what else -- higher pricing. But perhaps not higher overall volume for the owners of premium inventory when it comes to linear TV inventory.

Just to show that the “billboard” theme could be a big deal, Twitter has signed up one big screen TV-centric advertiser: Disney+.

While linear TV advertising deals will still be important for some time to come, many believe this current time period (the pandemic and now post-pandemic) shows that linear TV is on the rocks. Owners of linear TV advertising inventory are encouraging traditional TV advertisers to shift 20% or so of traditional linear TV budgets to their “premium” streaming apps.

The question media agencies and marketing executives might ask if that doesn’t happen: Will money continue to shift to other platforms that have proven track records when it comes to business-outcome results -- even on a smaller screen or "billboard" however one defines that word?