Twitter's new 6-sec video bidding: Better late than never?

Twitter has launched a six-second video bid unit to help advertisers get their video stories in front of the "most valuable audience in the moments they are most receptive", said the social media giant in a blog post.The offering, which only charges advertisers after the ad is viewed for six seconds, seeks to appeal to those who care about completed view metric.The new format targets advertisers who are developing short-form assets optimised for in-feed viewing and provide them with the "security of transacting on a longer view". It is available globally on Promoted Video, In-stream Video Sponsorships, and In-stream Video Ads for assets 15 seconds or less in length."Unlike other channels, Twitter is not a forced-view environment— our platform’s native video consumption tends to be shorter and more serendipitous as people discover fresh, relevant content by scrolling through their feed," explained Twitter. This comes as a recent Twitter-sponsored study by EyeSee determined short-form (under six seconds), sound-off videos with clear branding drive significantly better ad recall and message association on mobile than linear TVC style videos.[Digital Marketing Asia Conference 2019 in Singapore is back! Join us on 8-9 October as we hear from experienced practitioners and thought-leaders on how they are managing complex digital transitions and reimaging new ways for their marketing to become more customer focused, agile and interactive. Book your seats today.]Speaking to Marketing, KRDS director Preetham Venkky said Twitter is late in the game, joining the ranks of YouTube and Facebook in allowing control and optimisation for video content on the platform. However, the news is still a positive one for advertisers who are looking for cost savings."With this update, advertisers can hope to achieve two objectives (awareness and consideration) while optimising for just one (awareness). Advertisers will be able to understand the relevance of their content based on the duration of video consumption beyond the 6s mark," he explained. Users, on the other hand, can expect more video content in "Sponsored Tweets" on the platform, with prominence of logos or products in the first six seconds of the video, said Venkky.LOKi strategy and engagement lead Michelle Teh Zhu-Yenn said by offering more thoughtful and short video ads,The move will help Twitter capture more advertising spend.While most other social networks already have their video ad offerings, she said that Twitter's model of charging ads after six seconds seems more fair to advertisers in comparison. She added: "The option will challenge creative strategies to be more compelling to capture audience’s attention and get the brand message across within the short period of time."Meanwhile, Lion & Lion managing director Steven Ghoos said the new format has a lot of potential for brands to be "closer to the consumer". According to him, the format is "sharp", and encourages brands to be more relevant and creative in the six-second window.However, news is changing very fast and Ghoos said it will take time for advertisers to create a quality video that is newsworthy. "In my opinion, Twitter is a great channel for brands to share bite-size information that is less branded but more personal," he advised.