AP sells first sponsored tweets to Samsung
One of the world's oldest news services turns to one of the world's newest technologies to drum up extra revenue.
A very old media company is turning to the technology offered by one of the very newest media companies in a bid to drum up new revenue. Earlier today, the Associated Press announced a deal under which Samsung will become the first advertiser to provide sponsored tweets to the news wire's primary Twitter account.Standing ovation, football helmet for Clinton as she returns to work after hospitalization: apne.ws/Uw80nt -CC
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 7, 2013
Lou Ferrara, the AP managing editor overseeing the project, said in a release accompanying the announcement that "as an industry, we must be looking for new ways to develop revenues while providing good experiences for advertisers and consumers." The ads, which will appear twice a day, were timed to coincide with the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas.
The Associated Press was created in 1846. In 2011, the company sustained a $193 million after-tax loss after taking a charge. However, the news agency was also feeling the effects of a third consecutive annual drop in revenues.
Buzzfeed is reporting that the arrangement bypasses Twitter's ad product. We've contacted Twitter for comment and will update the post when we have more information.
Update:2:15 PM ET Twitter, which had no official comment on the announcement, is not necessarily discouraging advertisers from pursuing similar deals as long as it does not involve an automated sponsorship which would approach the level of being spam. But the company also believes that these sorts of digital buys are the equivalent of banner ads with little insight into what's working, or the engagement level.