NEW YORK ? A Twitter executive at the 2013 IAB Cross-Screen Content & Consumers: AfterFronts conference said that the social media giant is a mobile company, with 60 percent of usage taking place on mobile.

The Twitter executive spoke about the importance that social and mobile play in the ways that consumers watch TV content. Additionally, the session presented  three different ideas for how marketers can leverage Twitter to connect with consumers glued simultaneously to TV sets and digital devices.
   
?The DNA of Twitter is as a mobile platform, as a mobile company,? said Jean-Philippe Maheu, head of international brand and agency strategy at Twitter, San Francisco.

?Sixty percent of our usage is on mobile and sometimes it is 80 ? 90 percent,? he said. ?Much more people sign up for Twitter from their mobile devices.?
 
Plugged-in users
According to Mr. Maheu, what is fascinating about Twitter is that the smartphone is becoming the second screen for consumers while they watch TV.

Moreover, some networks are increasingly viewing mobile as the first screen that consumers engage with to watch content.

According to data presented during the session, 40 percent of consumers with smartphones and tablets use their devices while watching TV.

When it comes to buyers, the executive said that there needs to be more cross-pollination between the brand and agency sides.

Social opportunity
Consumers are increasingly cutting the cord when it comes to watching video.

However, social media is also driving consumers to watch TV in real-time since consumers take to Twitter and Facebook to share what they are watching on TV, and spoi the TV watching experience for other users.

Per Mr. Maheu, the No. 1 implication for marketers with the new ways that consumers watch TV is that not all gross rating points are created equal.

The session presented three examples of how marketers can use Twitter to extend the TV experience into the social space.

The first is around TV calls-to-action that promote Twitter hashtags to build a deeper relationship with consumers after the commercial ends.
 
According to Mr. Maheu, 50 percent of the TV campaigns from this year?s Superbowl included a hashtag call-to-action.

These social-enabled ads generated 60 percent more comments on Twitter than the TV commercials that did not have a hashtag call-to-action.

The second opportunity is with Twitter Amplify, which lets marketers deliver Tweets in the form of video clips in real-time during television shows.

Essentially, Twitter Amplify lets marketers extend the reach of their TV content to mobile and digital platforms.

Twitter has partnered with TV networks such as ESPN and Turner. During March Madness, for example, Twitter took instant-replay and highlights content from games and put it on Twitter immediately after airing on TV.

This enabled people watching the game live to go back and watch the replays and also let users who did not have access to watch the game view highlights.

The third option is around ad targeting, where marketers can serve ads to consumers who are tweeting about specific shows.

By leveraging Twitter's Bluefin technology, the company knows which consumers are exposed to TV ads, which can then be linked to Twitter for engagement.

For example, Covergirl might run a TV ad during Fox?s New Girl program, which has hypothetically one-half of a million consumers tweeting about the show.

The beauty brand can then reach out to those consumers who are tweeting about the show to continue the conversation online and serve up a promoted tweet.

?I hope I was clear in describing how Twitter is becoming TV?s social soundtrack, how users? behavior has driven this innovation that we are driving at Twitter,? Mr. Maheu said.

"For brands, they can extend their TV investments on social media, on social networks and on Twitter in three ways ? hashtag, the content publishing with the TV networks, which is the Twitter Amplify program, and then the TV ad targeting product that we are right now running with brands," he said.

Final Take