Twitter captures more than 24 million unique visitors in the U.S. each month, according to the latest comScore web property rankings. A separate comScore report says that 178 million U.S. consumers watch online videos. With Twitter's recent redesign, which Brafton reported earlier this week, online shoppers can now watch videos without leaving the social site – and this may help marketers generate chatter about their video ads.
It's clear that Twitter users are attracted to online videos. Brightcove and TubeMogul's Brand Marketers and On-site Video Initiative study shows that video referral traffic from Twitter is growing considerably faster than traffic directed from search engines. Moreover, the report says internet users directed to videos from Twitter are among the most engaged viewers.
At the same time, the study suggests that consumers tend to watch videos for longer periods of time when they can watch them on a site, compared to videos viewed via off-site embeds. This may indicate that marketers who upload video content on the redesigned Twitter can hold prospective clients' interests as the display pane rolling out this week lets users view videos on the social site.
With this in mind, marketers should plan to take advantage of the updated Twitter interface and offer followers more interactive content on the site. In-video ads are one possible approach, but brands may also want to consider creating video clips that showcase their products or services and demonstrate that their brands are industry thought leaders. Nearly half (47 percent) of consumers who visit the microblogging site are looking for the latest industry news, according to a report from Chitika.
