Twitter launches first TV ad campaign in bid to boost user numbers

Slowing growth has been causing concern at Twitter HQ for some time, but with a new CEO recently installed, investors are now expecting some concrete results. Trouble is, Q3 data released Tuesday revealed more of the same.

Determined to get the lines on the graph pointing skyward instead of near-flatlining, the San Francisco-based company is rolling out a bunch of TV ads in the U.S., a market where its user base has been hovering around the 66 million mark for much of the year.

The first of the ads, which was spotted by The Verge Tuesday night as it went out during the World Series game between the Royals and the Mets, features fans’ tweets posted during  the recent Major League Baseball playoffs, together with highlights from some of the games.

Set to the funky Best Thing Ever by French artist Jean Tonique, the fast-paced 30-second slot showcases Moments, Twitter’s recently released editor-curated feature aimed at simplifying the service for new users. However, the ad flashes by in a flurry of quickfire cuts, and consequently is likely to leave some viewers unfamiliar with Twitter asking, “What was that!?”

Still, the company’s marketing crew is hoping the slots will create enough buzz to bring back lapsed users and attract new ones, while at the same time emphasizing the brand and stoking the interest of advertisers yet to utilize the service.

It’s not known how much the new campaign is costing Twitter, but seeing that it’s been created by the same team behind Apple’s iconic 1984 ad, it won’t have come cheap.

Data published by Twitter on Tuesday pointed to continued slow user growth, with the company adding just four million new users in the last three months, taking its global user base to 320 million. Investors for one will be noting the effect of the ads and evaluating whether they were worth the spend, when Twitter publishes its next set of financials in January.