Twitter has just announced it’s expanding its promoted tweets & promoted accounts systems on mobile devices, and will now start serving up adverts to users from brands that they don’t already follow on Twitter. That sounds incremental, but what it means is that Twitter on iOS and Android is now an ad channel much like TV or the web is. The company’s also enabling more targeted ad options for its partners, including specific device types–possibly for demographics matching.
People who access the service via Twitter’s iPhone and Android apps, will soon start seeing adverts, from the likes of big brands such as Starbucks, appear in their timeline. Twitter introduced sponsored tweets into the app’s search results and into the trends list. Twitter had already put adverts on the mobile version of its site, but had yet to roll out adverts via its app in the timeline.
Twitter spokesman: “In the coming weeks, we’ll begin introducing Promoted Tweets in the timeline on these mobile apps. Initially, a small number of users may see Promoted Tweets near the top of their timelines from brands they already follow….Promoted Tweets will appear in your timeline like any other Tweet, and like regular tweets, they will appear in your timeline just once; as you scroll, the Promoted Tweet will flow with the rest of the Tweets in your timeline.
Twitter launched its advertising product two years ago – but has failed to fully exploit its huge growth in users with a similarly financially successful advertising model. More than half of its 100 million active users access Twitter via their mobile. However, promoted tweets will not appear in users’ timelines if they are accessing Twitter via a third party mobile app, such as TweetBox.

For years, brands around the world have used Twitter to reach consumers with timely, relevant deals, discounts, news and information. And every day, millions of Twitter users who follow brands are turning to their mobile devices to hear from the companies they care about most.
Twitter recently began testing Promoted Tweets & Promoted Accounts on iOS and Android devices to make it easier for brands to reach consumers anytime, even when they are on the go. As with the launch of Promoted Tweets in user timelines on Twitter.com, we started by showing them in the timeline only for those users already following the advertiser. Since we began testing three weeks ago, reactions have been positive. Starting today, we are expanding this test, enabling brands to target Promoted Tweets to mobile users that share similar interests with their existing followers.