Twitter partnering with TV Channels in India to drive user growth

In order to increase its user growth in the country, Twitter is looking into putting its partnerships with Television channels in India on a fast track. India is considered as one of the most important and fastest growing markets for the company. Twitter recently also unveiled its Amplify product with Vodafone and Star sports. The product helps the networks monetize content.

The company is looking forward to these television partnerships as a key means to monetize its user base all around the globe. In 2013, Twitter acquired the startup Bluefin Labs for a whopping $67 million. The startup makes use of analytics to tie social media chatter to TV. The company has already tied with Airtel DTH in India, which allows the DTH customers to see tweets on the comfort of their big television screens. More such deals are currently underway.

twitter on Airtel digital TV

According to Rishi Jaitly’s statement to Economic Times “We want to make twitter the second screen for television channels in India. In keeping with television, I would say stay tuned”.  Jaitly is the Indian market director at Twitter.

The current focus of Twitter in India is less towards monetization and more towards increasing user growth, as the company considers India as an important strategic growth market for itself.

According to the research firm eMarketer, India will soon account for the third largest market for Twitter, with around 18.1 million users using the micro blogging site by the end of this year. Over all, the site has around 270 million monthly active users.

The Television strategy will benefit the television channels as much it will benefit Twitter, as the micro blogging site will increase the curiosity and conversations around shows and help the channels fetch new viewers for its shows every day.

According to Pratiksha Rao’s statement to Economic Times “We’ve worked with a number of channels like general entertainment channels Colors and Stars. Even Doordarshan has a very interesting personality on Twitter. The idea is to educate brands and teach the best practices like talking to your audience and getting the talent involved.” Pratiksha is the entertainment partnership manager at Twitter.

Twitter is currently working meticulously towards its four pillar strategy for boosting user growth in India. This four pillar strategy involves deploying products such as Twitter missed call that even works on feature phones, partnering with broadcasters by getting actors on the platform and by inciting the   brands involved to increase engagement and the advertising spend on the site.
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