Twitter may be poised to triple its ad revenue, reaching $150 million in the coming year, according to Internet researcher EMarketer. Twitter only began ramping up its ad sales back in April of last year, but by 2012, its ad revenue might reach as high as $250 million, EMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said.
We’re used to hearing such figures from Twitter PR–the company recently valued itself at $3.7 billion after a $200 million funding round–but the EMarketer report, released today, is its first multi-year research report analyzing Twitter’s likely ad revenue in the context of other social media sites like Facebook.
A number of big brands have already signed up to advertise on Twitter, among them Nissan, H-P, and Starbucks. When earlier this month, Nissan used the “promoted trends” tool on Twitter to market its EV, the Leaf, engagement among Twitter users exceeded the expectations of Joshua Clifton, Nissan’s manager of social media communications.
“The company is definitely attracting brand advertisers,” EMarketer’s Williamson told Bloomberg. “The difference is going to be whether Twitter can prove itself to advertisers as delivering results. I think this will be the year that we know a lot more.”
One good sign, according to Williamson, is that ad sales on Twitter are following a pace of growth similar to that of Facebook, which is, of course, wildly profitable. To further boost ad sales, Twitter will likely implement DIY marketing tools for small businesses, posited Williamson, which will be similar to offerings from Google and Facebook.
