In a long anticipated move, Twitter is finally launching auto-play for the videos on their site. This is something that Facebook has had for quite a while now, and has enjoyed a lot of success from. For those who are not familiar, the technology works by automatically beginning a video as soon as it is visible to the person browsing their Twitter feed. The video will begin playing in mute so that it really doesn’t disturb anyone who is not interested.
If the user scrolls past, the video will stop playing. In many cases, however, the video will catch someone’s eye and they will be interested. With a quick tap or click, they can then let the video play in full screen mode (for mobile devices) and with the audio as well.
Perfect for Advertisers
While the auto-play feature will be engaged for everyone, it is especially important for marketers and advertisers. It makes it so a far greater number of people will actually see your video ads. Twitter has made it clear that advertisers will only pay for a view if the video has been 100% in view for a minimum of three seconds. This is similar to the Facebook setup and it has proven to be effective for many marketers.
Changing the way Marketers Make Videos
The auto-play feature has really caused a lot of brands and marketers to change the way they are making videos. First, it is 100% essential to have the first couple of seconds of a video be very eye catching. You want visitors to see your message and tap it to see and hear the rest of the video. Many marketers are also putting sub-titles on their videos since they know that some or all of the ad will be viewed without the volume on.
Widescreen Auto-Play
While Twitter’s feature is largely just a copycat of Facebook’s, they have made some advancements. First, if there is a video that has started to auto-play on the screen and the user tilts the device sideways, it will automatically turn on the sound and play in full screen mode. This will likely help to ensure more people are seeing the full video and getting the full message that publishers want. While it may seem like a small thing, it can be very helpful.
Dramatic Increase in Video Views
If Twitter gets similar results as Facebook, they will see a dramatic increase in the total number of video views that are generated on their platform. This, of course, is a good thing for Twitter. It is also going to be helpful to brands, advertisers and the users in general. While some people report that they find the auto-play option to be annoying, the majority of people seem to like it according to recent surveys.
The one potential problem is for users who have a limited amount of mobile data. Twitter does allow the auto-play feature to be disabled in the settings so that should not be a significant concern.
