This Is Twitter's Plan To Get A Piece Of The $70 Billion Spent On TV Advertising

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This year, I didn't plan on watching the Oscars.

But then I opened up Twitter on a Sunday night and saw people tweeting about the red carpet.

I changed the channel to get in on the fun.

Twitter, the company, believes that lots of consumers behave the same way that I did that night – and that this behavior will allow Twitter to get in on the $70+ billion that Nielsen says is spent on TV advertising in the US every year.

After speaking with two sources familiar with Twitter's TV advertising ambitions, here's what else I can tell you Twitter believes…

• That more and more, people don't watch TV without looking at a tablet or a phone at the same time.
• That those people will tune in on their big screen to keep up with the conversation on their small screen.
• That it can sell ads that will "amplify" these conversations – and get people to tune into specific TV shows.
• That a brand like Coca-Cola will buy Twitter ads to get people to tune into TV shows that are sponsored by Coca-Cola.
• That brands will prefer to spend their digital advertising budgets driving consumers to TV, where they'll see commercials, which tell good "brand stories," rather than on banner ads.
• That TV networks will help Twitter sell Twitter ads to brands as part of a larger package.