This week, in a first, Twitter announced that they will be streaming live video this summer as part of an ad partnership with Pepsi. Embedding video within tweets has become an important way or TV advertisers to drive buzz and conversations around their spots via the 140-character platform. “If your Promoted Tweet contains a link to a video or photo from a partner provider, it automatically expands to show that media within the timeline,” states Twitter’s advertising site. Bringing live video to a brand’s Twitter page is a big move for the network that could have a big affect on the TV industry if it takes off.
The AP reports that Pepsi said, “that it’s partnering with Twitter to provide streaming videos of live music concerts to Pepsi’s followers on the social networking site.” The first live stream will come in June and while the artists involved haven’t been disclosed, this is part of a new global ad campaign the soda brand is launching with artist Nicki Minaj.
This is the first time that Twitter will stream live content directly on its site and seems to be a clear sign that the company has plans to move beyond 140 character updates. As we recently discussed, the love affair between TV and Twitter has blossomed since TV networks use Twitter to get their viewers to shout out that you must watch a show when it’s on (or scare you away from going online until you do). We constantly think about how you can incorporate tweets on TV and now we can begin to wonder how we can throw TV into Twitter.