Twitter is testing full-screen mobile ads in Fleets, which are disappearing video tweets, after seeing advertisers’ interest in the format on rivals like Snapchat and TikTok.
On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it would start showing ads in Fleets to a limited number of users in the U.S. These disappearing video tweets are more private and feature some of the same tools people find on apps like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
Twitter launched Fleets last year, but it has largely been considered a niche feature. The company has never said how many of its 199 million daily users create videos there. However, Twitter said in its announcement on Tuesday that the ad test in Fleets has broader implications for the platform.
“As we experiment on this new surface for ads, we’ll take a close look at how vertical, full-screen ads perform on Twitter,” the company said. “We want to understand how this content performs for customers not just for Fleet ads, but for future iterations of full-screen formats on Twitter.”
Twitter has been updating its entire advertising business to help brands improve performance. For instance, last year, Twitter updated its ad-targeting capabilities to entice more direct-to-consumer, e-commerce and performance-driven brands. Full-screen ads are another step to catching up with its peers on a format that has proven successful.