One of Twitter’s challenges is to find the most appropriate way to monetize the platform. In fact, it is important to note that the company did not report its first profits until the last quarter of 2017, which was a positive situation that was repeated in the first quarter of 2018. Now, on Twitter, they are testing new ways to monetize the platform. As echoed from TechCrunch, Twitter will start displaying ads on the Browse tab.
Looking back, Twitter presented the Explore tab in early 2017 as a way to access everything that happens (Moments, trends, searches and live video) from one place. Now, according to the source, the platform would be interested in starting to take advantage of this channel to generate income.
To do this, Twitter will start displaying ads at the top of the Explorer interface. Specifically, the social network will show us these ads twice a day and they will disappear the rest of the time. Of course, in addition to the corresponding ad (the new format is currently being tested with a Disney ad), we will continue to see the rest of the content that we usually see on this tab. You can see how the new ads work in the video below.
Although social network users don’t usually like ads, it’s important to note that we’re using a platform the size of Twitter for free. Clearly, companies need ways to generate revenue and profit to keep operating, and this new ad format could help Twitter stay profitable.