Twitter readies Euro ad push

The company – which has launched a raft of commercial services over the past year, including a number of ad services and an analytics tool – is understood to have selected London as its European base as interest from brands and agencies intensifies.

It confirmed it was researching staff and locations in Europe, but wouldn’t specify any location.

Speaking to new media age, a spokesman said, “Twitter plans to have a small number of people on the ground in Europe in 2011. We’re currently researching locations and potential candidates.”

According to sources close to the company, London has already been chosen, with the office to be made up predominantly of sales roles. These will report to Katie Jacobs Stanton, who was appointed in July to head Twitter’s international strategy.

The news comes two months after Twitter embarked on a UK roadshow, meeting with brands and agencies to promote its commercial products.

Major brands including Sony, Sky and Vodafone are said to be considering advertising on Twitter in the UK. Ads on the service are currently only served globally.

The sources said high interest from UK brands is a key driver in Twitter’s push into Europe ahead of a move to localise the ad services.

Earlier this month, Google announced plans to show paid ads from Twitter in real-time search results in the US. This will then be rolled out in the UK, significantly increasing Twitter’s reach.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk