Twitter begins testing Timeline Ads on publisher sites

Twitter is now testing Timeline Ads in timelines embedded on third-party publisher sites, according to a report from Business Insider. Twitter started recruiting publishers for the test in May.

Why publishers and advertisers should care

Twitter has been slow to expand its programmatic advertising offering, well behind Google Display Network and Facebook Audience Network. With the Timeline Ads test, currently in alpha, Twitter is opening the door for publishers to generate more revenue from the timelines embedded on their sites and offering advertisers access to more ad inventory.

Ad revenue from Timeline Ads will be split equally between Twitter and the publishers, according to the report, with four ad placements interspersed among the top 20 tweets in an embedded stream.

The company has partnered with ad tech platform OpenX for the test.

“We are continuing to evolve and iterate the ways in which we can work with publishers to help them generate revenue through unique real-time content monetization opportunities, on and off platform. We are running an alpha test to explore new channels of demand with OpenX, and are looking forward to seeing how this evolves,” a Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider.

Twitter said it is reaching out to publishers of all sizes. TheStreet.com and Advance Local, a digital media company that owns 25 local news sites, including AL.com, Syracuse.com and OregonLive.com are cited as current alpha testers.

More on Twitter’s Timeline Ads test

1. Publishers must be approved by Twitter to gain access to Timeline Ads. A registration form is located on the Twitter Timeline Ads Program page.

2. Participating publishers will have access to three preconfigured reports — Inventory Daily Summary, Site Revenue and Ad Unit Summary — and be able to set up customized reports using metrics pulled from the preconfigured reports.

3. Twitter encourages any publishers taking part in the test to use the IAB’s ads.txt to prevent domain spoofing and inclusion of unauthorized ad inventory within their embedded timelines.