Following in Google's and Facebook's footsteps, Twitter is rolling out its first autoplay videos in a push to draw in users and boost the value of its advertising platform. Native videos, GIFs and Vines will begin to autoplay in timelines and across Twitter, the company said on Tuesday. Videos will appear larger and will autoplay on mute when users see them on their timelines. Clicking on the video will put it in full-screen mode and add sound. Users can still retweet, comment or indicate they like the video at any point. "During the autoplay tests we ran, we saw people engaging with videos in this new format at a much higher rate, and our brand and publishing partners saw improved view rates," David Regan, senior product manager at Twitter, said in a post. "All of this resulted in lower cost-per-views for marketers and increased video recall by consumers." Twitter also announced a new standard for how marketers will be charged for video views. Now, Twitter charges them only when a video is completely visible on the user's device and has been watched for at least three seconds. To improve the accuracy of its metrics on video ad campaigns, Twitter will soon be working with multiple third-party vendors to more transparently measure an ad's success, the company said. During its testing of the autoplay feature, Twitter said users were 2.5 times more likely to prefer autoplay videos over other viewing options. And for brands, promoted videos were watched seven times more from start to finish during autoplay testing. The move comes five days after Twitter's CEO Dick Costolo announced that he will step down on July 1st, with cofounder Jack Dorsey stepping in as interim CEO, and less than two months after first-quarter earnings when Twitter missed revenue expectations and promised to bolster its advertising business. Plenty of ad dollars go to the Internet, but it is yet to be seen whether Twitter will make itself a third must-buy among ad giants Facebook and Google, which are seen as essential parts of any ad budget. Twitter accounted for 0.87% of the $145 billion digital advertising globally last year, according to eMarketer. By comparison, last year, Facebook’s share was 7.93%, while Google remained the market leader with a 31.42% share. Google has attracted advertisers by delivering users when they are ready to purchase something, and Facebook offers them detailed profiles. Twitter has neither of those, and that could limit its growth potential. Twitter's new video features are rolling out gradually first on iOS and the web, and will later extend to Android.
Twitter is rolling out its first autoplay videos, including native videos, GIDs and Vines, in a push to draw in users and boost the value of its advertising platform. The company said it will roll out new videos every day for two weeks, starting with one on Wednesday that features an interview with President Barack Obama about his plans to fight climate change. Marketers will only be charged when a video is completely visible on a user’s device and has been watched for at least three seconds. Twitter has posted examples of how video will work on its blog, and has said it will roll out autoplay videos immediately.