Now, when you click on a video on Twitter, you may have to wait for an advertisement to play first.
The BBC is reporting that Twitter's Amplify product will insert pre-roll ads to relevant videos. The model will be similar to the one currently used by YouTube, which provides payment to popular uploaders for playing ads before their content plays. There's no telling as of press time, though, if Twitter's pre-roll video ads will have a "skip ad" function the way that YouTube clips do.
The social media company will take a 30 percent slice of the ad revenue, according to the BBC, with the rest going toward publishers agreeing to have ads play as a lead-in to their video content.
One tech analyst expects a bulk of the pre-roll ads to be repurposed from television advertisements.
"It's a way to compete with TV ad budgets, which are the biggest in the industry," IHS Technology analyst Eleni Marouli told the BBC. "Every online platform is trying to grab a piece of those ad budgets."
Although currently only available in the U.S., Twitter reportedly intends to have pre-roll advertising go global with time.
Still, it remains to be seen how the addition of advertising to videos will be received by Twitter users. It's one thing to have YouTube users search and sift through videos, knowing they're going to take the time to watch them. It could be an entirely different perspective for Twitter users and its followers, who are known for skimming through tweets of 140 characters.
Will they be irked waiting for ads to play before videos?
