Twitter signs biggest ad deal with SMG

Twitter has struck its biggest ad deal with Publicis’s Starcom MediaVest Group, the world’s leading advertizing agency, in a bid to bridge the gap between micro-blogging and TV-viewing.

The growing importance of Twitter is urging it to make the next big step to link social media and television.

“We think that the industry had been focused in the wrong area, which was making a decision between Twitter and TV,” said Twitter’s president of global revenue Adam Bain. “That’s not what we believe. Twitter is a bridge.”

A deal with Starcom MediaVest grants SMG’s clients, such as Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, access to advertizing slots on Twitter and to its new products. For instance, In-tweet mobile survey allows companies to poll customers in real time.

It is the biggest advertizing deal for Twitter so far and it’s expected to fetch the micro-blogging enterprise a total of $200 billion over two years.

Twitter and SMG will also share a virtual lab that keeps track of TV-viewers’ preferences, after a Nielsen survey has revealed a correlation between the rise in social networking and TV ratings, as more people use mobile devices while watching television, Gazeta.ru reports.