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Seeking more revenue, Twitter takes a leaf from Facebook with mobile-app install ads

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

June 30, 2014 | 3 min read

Twitter today took a leaf from Facebook's playbook, announcing that it is releasing mobile-app install ads to the wider advertising community after a months-long test.

Twitter: Looking for more revenue

These ads, which appear in Twitter’s news feed, provide links directly to apps on Apple’s App Store or Google Play.

Twitter users have recently seen ads suggesting they download apps such as Square or Spotify, or try out games like Heroes of Dragon Age and Real Racing 3. Twitter has said those tests went well.

The Wall Street Journal commented, "It could be a profitable new product for Twitter, which is finding ways to wring more ad dollars from its users as it manages slowing user growth."

Twitter’s revenue, most of it from advertising, more than doubled in the first quarter to $250.5 million - but the company has yet to make a profit.

Mobile-app install ads have been a driving force for Facebook’s swelling mobile ad business, said the WSJ. They made up 59% of its total revenue in the first quarter, up from 30% a year earlier.

Facebook, which launched mobile-app install ads in late 2012, has benefited because of the wealth of data it has on each user. Advertisers can target users based on a number of factors such as age, location, gender and if they have shown an interest in that kind of app in the past.

Twitter will need to prove to advertisers its targeting abilities are as powerful, even if differen, said the WSJ. Advertisers can set up a campaign through Twitter’s automated self-serve system and target users based on factors such as keywords, interests, TV show preferences and tailored audiences. The ads will also be served through MoPub, its mobile advertising exchange that, according to Twitter, can reach more than one billion unique devices.

Twitter’s trio of current advertising products has largely been text-heavy, says the Jopurnal. " But over the past year it has worked to show it has more range by building on its “card” technology, an expandable tweet that supports rich media that allows advertisers more creative rein. The mobile-app install ad could become the poster child of these efforts as Twitter continues to search for ways to increase advertising revenue for the long haul."

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