Upfront week is already proving to be the platform for major social TV announcements. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ESPN and Twitter will expand their partnership that was announced a year ago. Last year’s partnership set an important precedent that allowed advertisers to buy ads across TV and Twitter at the same time. Now video is becoming the focus of the growth of their partnership.
According to the WSJ coverage, “The sports network plans to sell ads that will run inside the video clips, and marketing sponsors will commit to buying from Twitter a minimum value of ‘promoted’—or paid—Twitter posts to circulate their pitches.” This is another important moment proving that Twitter isn’t just about 140-character updates. Both ESPN and Twitter are going to lure in advertisers with video.
By this time next year, will every major TV network have a partnership with Twitter where both ad sales teams work together? It seems possible, especially with the Twitter Nielsen rating on the way.