Checking in with Twitter’s president of revenue

Adam Bain on the Canadian office's first year and the social media co's e-commerce expansion plans.

Though Twitter does not break out numbers by country for Canada, Adam Bain, president of revenue at the social media company, who was in Toronto earlier this week, says that Canadian users are more active based on the country’s total internet usership than many other places in the world, including the US.

It’s not just Canadian consumers that are using the service at a breakneck pace, but also its broadcasters and brands, with each of the major networks having signed on to use Twitter Amplify and five programs going to market in Twitter Canada’s first year of operation. Bain adds Canada is the only market where each major broadcaster has signed on to use the service, which allows media cos to target exclusive video clips at groups of Twitter users, with brands sponsoring the content. A recent example comes from the CBC using Twitter Amplify with Budweiser around the NHL Playoffs.

TwitterAmplifyThe Canadian office is also unique in that it was recently given head count to add a head of research, something Kirstine Stewart, head of Twitter Canada, says not all markets receive in their offices. Former Ipsos VP Luke Stringer joined the Canadian team last month and research focused on how marketers can use the service in Canada will be coming soon, adds Stewart.

Overall, Bain says Twitter is focused on growth around the pillars of targeting, creative and measurement. He says to watch for other e-commerce launches like this week’s partnership announcement with Amazon in the US and UK. The new deal allows Amazon customers to add products from other people’s Tweets to their checkout cart by Tweeting with the hashtag #Amazoncard. Programs like the partnership with Amazon and others coming this year stem from Twitter’s addition of former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard to its team to build out the e-commerce options on the site.

While Bain was in Toronto to meet with the marketing community in the city this week, his colleague Deb Roy, chief media scientist at Twitter, was in the city to talk at Tuesday’s Canadian Media Directors’ Council Conference.

Roy highlighted Twitter’s role as a “force multiplier,” bringing screens closer together rather than separating them further. When using things like Twitter Amplify or Twitter’s recent Canadian launch of  TV conversation tools, Roy emphasized the time-sensitive nature of promoting on the platform, likening the conversation on Twitter around any TV show to the fading nature of watching a setting sun.

With files from Michael Kolberg