Twitter said to be in talks with TV networks for embedded video content

Twitter is likely to enter into partnerships with TV networks to introduce high-quality video content and advertisements to its platform.

An AllThingsD report sheds some more light on the interesting development. The report cites an example from earlier this month, wherein a highlight clip from the NCAA March Madness tournament, was embedded in a tweet. The clip, it turns out, is from Time Warner’s Turner cable network, and that the video itself, is preceded by a Coca Cola ad. So, essentially, a content owner has put up a brief clip on Twitter and a sponsor brought in the money to promote or distribute the content on Twitter. From the looks of it, it would seem both Twitter and the content owner share the revenue earned from the exercise.

A Bloomberg report yesterday, indicated that Twitter was in talks with Viacom, about including TV clips on its site with ads. In addition to Viacom, the popular microblog was in discussions with Comcast and NBCUniversal too, on the topic of entering a content partnership. 

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Videos could be embedded in tweets.

Quoting one of the sources familiar with the development, the report added, “The partnerships would let Twitter stream videos on its site and split the resulting ad revenue with the networks, said one of the people familiar with the discussions. One or more deals could be reached by mid-May, and Twitter may strike deals with other networks.”

The report added how the platform was doing things to get users to spend more time on the site and even view ads. It already is in partnership with the likes of Walt Disney, ESPN, Weather Channel and Turner Broadcasting System. “Twitter is seeking to add more entertainment and news video, two people familiar with the plan said. NBC, which also owns the USA Network, and Viacom, which owns MTV and Nickelodeon, would make attractive partners given the popularity of their content,” it added. 

Twitter has also been in the news in recent times for its soon-to-be-launched music discovery service. The service will apparently help users find out about new music based on content from their Twitter profiles. The service is speculated to launch with a web interface and an app. Reportedly, Twitter will be integrating features from Spotify, Rdio, iTunes, Soundcloud, Vevo and YouTube into the service.