Twitter Begins Pilot Testings Ads on Its Stories

Ads are officially coming to Twitter in vertical format. The ads are expected to appear on Twitter’s version of Stories, known as Fleets. Starting now, Twitter will begin pilot testing Fleets ads in the U.S. similar to other vertical ads offered across other social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

The Fleet ads will appear in between Fleets from the people users follow and will be supporting both video and image ads. Video ads have up to 30 seconds to display their content, while brands can also use a “swipe-up” call-to-action function to further increase engagement on their ads.

Twitter did not say how often the Fleet ads will be available, stating it will continue to “innovate, test and continue to adapt” in this area as Twitter users engage with the ads. Twitter expects the pilot to help the company understand how well these types of ads perform on Twitter.

Twitter first experimented with Fleets early last year. Initially, it garnered criticism by users who felt that Fleets became another way for Twitter to fall under the trap of looking the same as other social media platforms. However, today, Fleets has become one of the key components of Twitter and its users’ experiences. Fleets is still currently in its beginning stages, as it offers a fairly bare-bones experience in terms of creator tools, in comparison to its competitors.

It remains to be seen how Twitter hopes to capitalize on ad revenue through Fleets down the line.

In other Twitter news, the app is launching its own weather news service.