14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter has announced on its blog that the company constantly monitors its campaign reporting to ensure 100% accuracy. However, Twitter discovered a technical error in its Android app which caused faulty metrics since the start of November.
The social networking service has stated that the technical error affects some video ad campaigns starting November 7 that ran until December 12. The problem was fixed, but the company wanted to issue a statement on the matter and explain the problem.
Once Twitter discovered the issue, it managed to resolve it and communicate the impact to affected advertisers. The company said that it was a technical error, not a policy or definition issue, and that it was resolved.
Twitter is refunding advertisers affected by the technical issue
Twitter also mentions that it will be monitoring the systems to identify the problem and provide support for partners. It seems that the issue caused inflated video advertising metrics by as much as 35%. The company also stated that it would offer refunds to marketers for over-billing them for campaigns which started on November 7 and ended December 12.
Some publications, like VentureBeat, say that the majority of refund amounts could be as low as $1, which could mean that people don’t spend much on ad campaigns on Twitter.
Twitter’s advertising revenue reached $545 million in the latest quarter, accounting for an 8% increase year on year. The company didn’t mention any prominent ad publishers who might have been affected by the issue.
Twitter isn’t the only social media service to record such an issue, Facebook has also had to readjust metrics several times, including for estimated reach, Graph API, or streaming reactions.
The issue only appeared on Twitter’s Android app and the company is working towards bringing new features to its mobile applications. Twitter recently started testing breaking news push notifications, thus showing that it will be moving away from its social networking focus, and closer to the news platform.