Background
 The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi provided advertisers and broadcasters in the Netherlands with a new opportunity to engage with viewers through the Amplify tool on Twitter. Ster (sales house for the Dutch public channels), Samsung and the NOS (Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation) joined forces to combine the mass power of television with the social strength of Twitter to create a mutually beneficial partnership.
The concept
 Twitter’s video advertising programme, Amplify, which has seen much success in the US and Australia, enables media owners to publish video content on Twitter and then jointly monetise this premium content by creating sponsorship packages, powered by promoted tweets, to amplify the reach of the video content distributed via the media owners’ Twitter handle(s).
So far it has been mostly used for sports content, with the NFL, NBC and US Open Tennis creating video clips of great goals and highlights of matches. Sponsors then enrich this content with pre-roll ads or banners wrapped around the video, which are posted on the channels' own twitter feeds.
Amplify’s goal is not to replace the TV experience but rather to enhance it, or simply remind viewers to tune into their favourite shows, hence the name Amplify.
In this joint cooperation between Ster and Twitter, videos and photographs of the Winter Olympic Games were tweeted by the NOS and exclusively sponsored by Samsung. This meant an enormous coverage of the NOS images from Sochi in the Netherlands, including both broadcast media and online social interaction.
The results
The Amplify campaign ran from the Winter Games’ opening ceremony all the way through to the closing ceremony. The engagement of Twitter users with the news reports was huge. In total, there were more than half a million clicks and retweets of @NOSsport’s tweets, which were sponsored by Samsung. Either banner ads or six second pre-rolls appeared alongside the @NOSsport videos.
A great example of such a highlight was the tweet by @NOSsport about Ireen Wüst’s gold medal on February 9th, which received an engagement level over 19%, an exceptionally high result for an online campaign. @Samsung itself acquired more than 9,000 new followers while @NOSsport grew by more than 75% to more than 54,000 followers. This partnership also gave Samsung 7 million hits and 500,000 interactions on Twitter. The interaction rate was 7%, whereas the average for this type of campaign is around 2-3%.
Why does this matter to egta members?
As audiences are increasingly discussing television in the social space, sharing their reactions to cliff-hanger season finales and exciting sporting moments, this is an opportunity for broadcasters to make the most of this new dynamic between audiences and TV shows. egta members are very aware of the fact that the second screen enhances the first and vice-versa.
For broadcasters, using Twitter Amplify is a win-win situation, as providing these short video teasers, creates additional advertising opportunities with very little intrusion upon the viewer. Not only is the content so relevant that viewers will watch it but also offers the strong possibility of sharing the clip online, swiftly creating a real buzz effect, to the obvious benefit to all brands involved - including the broadcaster’s. In turn, this may persuade those followers to tune in to the TV broadcast, increasing viewership and audience engagement.
For advertisers, it extends the reach of TV sponsorships into mobile and social areas, as it allows them be part of the social conversation on Twitter. It also provides a multi-platform strategy essential to satisfying users’ need to consume content whenever or wherever they want it. |
