Twitter recently announced the global launch of a new takeover ad unit called the Promoted Trend Spotlight. The new ad format sits in the explore tab and enables advertisers to capture prime real estate on the Twitter platform.

Similar to Twitter’s Promoted Trend ads, which take over the top spot on Twitter’s trends list for 24 hours, the Promoted Trend Spotlight will allow advertisers to promote 6-second videos, GIFs and static images. The ad format will appear at the top of the explore tab for the first two visits per user, per day. After which, the placement is located in the trends tab as a standard Promoted Trend placement, pushing organic editorial content back into the Spotlight placement.

The new format will look to build on the platform’s continued drive to help brands cut-through and capture user attention by making it a full-width creative unit. By having a placement on the explore tab, brands can differentiate themselves from other placements on Twitter. Ultimately, the ad format is designed to enhance brands’ ability to generate conversation and invite discussion by providing such a lucrative position on the platform.

Through an eye-tracking study by behavioural research company, EyeSee, Twitter observed the Promoted Trend Spotlight drove a 26% higher view time compared to the standard Promoted Trend unit. More significantly, the stronger dwell times drove 113% higher ad recall, 18% higher brand consideration and 67% lift in stated brand intent.

The Promoted Trend Spotlight ad format will be available in several markets including UK, US, France, Germany and Spain.