Will Twitter’s Native Video Player Be Able to Compete With YouTube?

A couple of months ago, Twitter made an announcement about its development of a native video service to be launched in the first half of 2015. Additional details have now been uncovered about Twitter’s ambition to become a major player in the online video world.

“Aside from just watching video more easily on Twitter, you should be able to record, edit and share your own videos natively on Twitter too,” wrote Kevin Weil, Twitter’s VP of Product. “Alongside short looping Vine videos, we think you’ll have fun sharing what’s happening in your world through native video.”

So, how will the social media company’s new video service work?

The Twitter Video Player will host videos of up to 10 minutes in length and will have no limit on file sizes. In the initial version, there won’t be any editing or scheduling functionality within the player, and only mp4 and mov files will be supported. However, based on statements made by Twitter, there’s a great likelihood that additional features will be added in future releases. Users will have some control over the way that their videos are presented by being able to customize the thumbnails. All videos will, not surprisingly, be Tweetable from the Video Player dashboard.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of Twitter’s new video player is that only videos hosted on its own service will be supported. Users will not be able to include videos that are hosted on YouTube or any other site other than Twitter. Clearly, Twitter will be trying to build up its own video inventory through this initiative, thereby attempting to corner a portion of the market that is controlled by YouTube and other video sites. If Twitter is able to gain traction in this regard, the company will be able to make the ads that are associated with its videos far more commercially lucrative, and may be able to prove itself as a substantial video platform.

“In order to provide the best experience for the user, we require that all videos be uploaded and hosted by Twitter,” the company explained. “The same video that was uploaded to YouTube can also be uploaded to Twitter, but you cannot reuse the YouTube URL with the Twitter video player.”

Twitter’s move to expand its video offerings is part of a bigger initiative by the company to bring more premium advertisers to its platform. Video usage in marketing is growing rapidly across many industries, based in part on its ability to engage users for an extended period to keep them on sites for a longer time. Additionally, premium brand advertisers who are accustomed to spending their ad dollars on TV are more likely to consider large online advertising campaigns when video is a significant aspect of the site.

Will Twitter be able to take over a significant portion of online video marketing dollars? Allowing only for videos that are hosted on its site is a bold and potentially risky move, which could either pay off in a big way or prove to be a disincentive for users and advertisers to move to Twitter as a video platform. Marketers will be watching closely to gauge user and industry reactions once the service has been launched.