Twitter is strategically enhancing its video capabilities, aiming to transform itself into a significant advertising platform and a compelling destination for entertainment. This initiative is led by the newly appointed CEO, Linda Yaccarino, who brings her vast experience of building an ad-supported video platform.
Yaccarino, a key force in establishing NBC's Peacock service, aims to leverage Twitter's popularity as a 'second-screening' service and transform it into a standalone entertainment solution. Following in the footsteps of TikTok, which revolutionized social apps from personal interaction to a primary source of entertainment, Twitter is adding new video elements to facilitate this shift.
Watching pic in pic video while scrolling this platform is great
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 10, 2023
The recent additions include picture-in-picture (PiP) playback, allowing videos to continue streaming outside the app. The platform also enhanced its screen mirroring integration, enabling easier casting of Twitter videos to home TV sets, and introduced more responsive playback controls for an improved viewing experience. Furthermore, an upfront Airplay button on iOS has been added to simplify streaming Twitter videos directly to TV sets.
Twitter videos now support double tap to fast forward/backward. ⏪⏩ pic.twitter.com/BBr2StatRV
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) July 1, 2023
Twitter has also expanded the video length for Twitter Blue subscribers to up to two hours, encouraging publishers to share content directly to the app. This move positions Twitter in direct competition with YouTube and other platforms as an entertainment hub. Although YouTube currently offers more revenue generation opportunities, larger publishers like Apple experimenting with uploading longer content to Twitter indicates a promising pathway for Twitter's expanded video push, potentially creating novel opportunities for creators and advertisers alike.
