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TWITTER'S LATEST SECOND SCREEN ACQUISITIONS: The second screen industry has been consolidating in earnest over the past few months as the competition for the social TV audience becomes a two-horse race between Facebook and Twitter. That trend continues with the latest acquisitions by Twitter. Looking beyond its U.S. borders, Twitter has purchased France's Mesagraph and is also acquiring the UK's SecondSync, both of which are social TV analytics companies. TechCrunch notes that these acquisitions allow Twitter to build upon the audiences these companies already have, rather than Twitter having to start from scratch in new regions. The social network also announced that it is expanding its partnership with Kantar to further measure Twitter's TV reach. (TechCrunch, Twitter)
YOUTUBE'S AD REACH GUARANTEE: The competition to bring TV ad dollars to digital is only getting fiercer, with YouTube making especially big promises to ad executives in an effort to gain greater share of budgets, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The enormous video viewing site is guaranteeing advertisers that their ads will be shown on as many channels as it takes until a certain percentage of its targeted audience has been reached. This is how TV networks have operated for a long time says the Wall Street Journal, but it's a first for YouTube. These guarantees "will make it easier for chief marketing officers to feel more comfortable moving ad budgets that weren't earmarked for YouTube or online video to Google," said Jordan Bitterman, chief strategy officer of Mindshare. (Wall Street Journal)
SPOTIFY FACES BIG CHALLENGERS: The music streaming service is preparing for an IPO possibly in the fall, but things are only going to get more competitive for Spotify until then. The New York Post reports that Google's YouTube is prepping its own subscription music service, which it would unveil this summer. This would be the second music offering from Google. Google Play also offers an All Access music service that competes with Spotify and Pandora, among others. The Post reports that YouTube's Music Pass will cost $10 per month commercial free, and $5 per month with commercials.
And let's not forget about Apple, the company that built iTunes. Apple is also working on a so-called "Spotify killer" on top of its iTunes Radio service. Apple recognizes that music listening is moving from downloads to streaming, and doesn't want to get cut out of that media revenue stream. Among its many other products, Apple does a brisk business in media sales on iTunes. (New York Post)
GOOGLE+ TRUMPS TWITTER?: The accepted wisdom is that Google+ doesn't really have that many users, just a lot of accounts from among people who use Google's other services. But a new report from Forrester finds that that's misguided, and marketers ignoring Google+ are missing out on a big opportunity. Forrester's survey found that 22% of online U.S. adults said they used Google Plus each month. That's as many as said they use Twitter, and more than said they use LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Instagram on a monthly basis. So the first question is answered: There are plenty of people for brands to reach on Google+.
Moreover, Forrester also found that Google Plus drove twice the engagement per brand post than Twitter. Of course, it's important to note Forrester looked st 910 Twitter brand posts, compared to 182 Google Plus posts. The higher number of brand posts on Twitter likely drags down Twitter's number. Still, brands getting on Google+ now likely face much less competition than on Twitter. (Forrester)
TWITTER'S COMMERCE STAFF PICK: Twitter continues to build out its commerce offering, with rumors that the social network has brought on third-parties like Stripe and PayPal to power backend services, and an explicit announcement from CEO Dick Costolo in Twitter's first earnings call that commerce would be a part of Twitter's eventual business model. Now, Twitter has picked Phillipe Dauman, Jr. to be Director of Commerce Partnerships, the latest indication that Twitter commerce will be coming soon. Dauman has spent 6.5 years at Google as "Strategic Development Manager" in Google's mobile commerce division. (TechCrunch)
DEEP DIVE INTO TUMBLR DATA: Tumblr gets significantly less attention than social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, which means not a lot is known about who its users are and what they do on the site. But a new report out of Yahoo Labs gives insight into what's happening on Tumblr. Researcher Yi Chang says the majority of users on Tumblr are under 25 years old, and while Tumblr does resemble a blog network, users on Tumblr are much more likely to follow each other back and forth, compared to other blogs. The number of reciprocal connections on Tumblr is similar to on Facebook and Twitter. In addition, the average post on Tumblr is 427 characters, and reblogging — the Tumblr equivalent of retweeting — happens fast: Three-quarters of reblogs happen within the first hour after a new post appears. On Twitter, three-quarters of retweeting happens with the day. (MIT Technology Review)
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