Google tests out Twitter ads; both companies mum on pricing

Google is testing out display ads that have embedded tweets and prompt users to follow the advertiser’s account. They’re fairly simple; Twitter’s logo and bird appear in the ad and a tweet is placed in the center. If users click through on the ad, they land on the advertiser’s Twitter page.

Neither company talked about the financial terms of this arrangement, or whether this would create an additional revenue stream for Twitter on top of the search deal it signed with Google last fall. Google said the new Twitter ads were a limited test.

“To provide more marketing opportunities for our advertisers to reach users in moments that are relevant and useful to them, we are currently testing different ways that allow advertisers to better update their ads in real time,” said Rachel Nearnberg, a company spokeswoman. Twitter did not respond for comment.

In a way, what’s interesting about the ads is that depending on how they’re designed, they could end up behaving almost like Facebook’s engagement ads. Facebook ads let you “like” brands, setting up a subscription to them. A frictionless and well-designed Google ad with a tweet embedded into it could effectively let consumers behave the same way, by clicking through and subscribing to a brand’s updates on Twitter.