Google has a market cap of almost $198 billion right now, and most of that money stems from the company’s ability to sell ads. So congratulations are due to Twitter, which somehow sealed an ad-related deal whereby Promoted Tweets show up in Google’s real-time search results.
This is remarkable for two reasons. Number one: this is the first time Google’s ever allowed ads straight from another network to appear in its search results. Number two: a 50/50 revenue split is apparently taking place.
Danny Sullivan, who first reported this arrangement (in addition to the whole deal), noted, "It’s quite a coup for Twitter. Not only did the company get Google to pay it for its data last year ($15 million, it’s rumored) . . . but Twitter’s earning in a second way from the ads that are now appearing."
The one slight hitch is that Promoted Tweets only appear under very specific conditions; that is, a user has to dig into the "Updates" section of Google’s search results, and not just perform a search that generates a few results from Twitter.
Still, this might change in the future, and it’s hard to imagine anyone at Twitter is complaining much.
On that note, one question worth considering is who at Twitter engineered this agreement. If credit goes to new CEO Dick Costolo, he’s doing a very good job of taking the reins and exploring new revenue streams.