New system to sync up Promoted Tweets and TV adverts

Twitter has launched a new advertising program designed to help brands sync up television adverts and Promoted Tweets through the use of video fingerprinting technology, a strategy Twitter sees as an opportunity to put distance between itself and Facebook.

The system allows marketers to see tweeting activity about their brand or the TV show in real time during broadcasting. This means marketers can more intelligently target Twitter users with Promoted Tweets based on what has been tweeted about the advert or show.

For the time being, the service is only available for a small group of partners currently running TV adverts in the United States. The tech giant currently has partnerships with BBC America, Fox, Fuse and The Weather Channel, enabling these TV channels to promote television clips on the social platform in exchange.

Twitter credited the acquisition of Bluefin Labs for enabling the creation of this new format. It added that its video fingerprinting technology detects when and where an advert is running on television. This program does not require advertisers to do any manual tracking or upload media plan details. Whenever an advert airs during a TV show, Twitter not only determines where and when it ran, but can identify users on Twitter who tweeted about the program where the advert was aired.