Twitter Rolls Out a New Ad Unit in the Explore Tab

Twitter is launching the Promoted Trend Spotlight, a takeover ad displayed at the top of the Explore tab.

The Explore tab houses Twitter’s trending topics, which makes it one of the most frequently visited sections outside of Twitter’s main feed.

Twitter users may recall seeing a Promoted Trend Spotlight when Disney+ launched, as the ad unit was leveraged to drive awareness of the the new streaming service.

Promoted Trend Spotlight is no longer exclusive to select advertisers. The ad unit is now generally available to advertisers in the US, the UK, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, and Thailand.

A Promoted Trend Spotlight works in conjunction with Twitter’s Promoted Trend takeover to enhance visibility with 6-second videos, GIFs, and static images. The ad unit is displayed on mobile and desktop, and fills the entire width of screens on mobile phones.

All users will immediately see a Promoted Trend Spotlight on their first two visits to the Explore tab per day. After the first two visits, the ad unit moves to the standard Promoted Trend placement.

According to research from an eye-tracking study, people spent 26% more time looking at the Promoted Trend Spotlight compared to the standard Promoted Trend ad.

“These longer dwell times generated impact throughout the funnel: from +113% higher ad recall and +18% higher brand consideration to +67% lift in stated likelihood to use a brand in the future. In addition, according to internal Twitter data, people were three times more likely to click through an ad in the Spotlight unit than the standard Promoted Trend.”

Advertisers are asked to contact their Twitter Client Partner for more information on how to get started with the Promoted Trend Spotlight.

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