As Facebook continues to charge more money for less ad space, Twitter suddenly looks like a better alternative. And for some companies, Twitter ads are clearly starting to out perform Facebook.
A new report issued yesterday by research firm MKM Partners found that a few large agencies were having more success with Twitter ads than they were with Facebook. These included Publicis/Starcom, WPP and Omnicom, who stated that it was seeing click-through rates on Twitter that were eight times better than Facebook.
However, the analyst writing the report Rob Sanderson was still bullish on Facebook, noting that while larger companies were experiencing success on Twitter, smaller companies were still more likely to find success through Facebook. Sanderson says this is due to Twitter’s primary focus on the major branded channels early on, and its only recent efforts to start optimizing for small businesses. In addition, Facebook’s targeting, and suitability for local reach makes it far more popular among smaller businesses.
Twitter might have a long way to catch up to Facebook’s ad revenues, but it’s closing the gap at a rapid pace. Its revenue per user ($4.60) is now little over half of Facebook’s ($8.45), compared to 40% one year ago.
Let’s not forget Twitter is now matching Facebook pound for pound when it comes to advertising tools. It recently introduced a “buy button,” video ads, mobile app install ads and better targeting features all within months of Facebook introducing the same products. Facebook might have the global numbers, but at least in the US, if Twitter can continue to grow its user base, we might see even more advertisers start to divert their ad dollars.
