Trend Takeovers

Trend Takeover pairs the undeniable stopping power of video with the premium real estate of X’s Explore tab over the course of a 24 hour takeover.

Interested in Trend Takeovers?

What is Trend Takeover?

Trend Takeover puts your ad alongside what’s trending with immersive video creative. Trend Takeover puts your message where the conversations starts — the Explore tab. The Explore tab puts what’s trending on X in one spot. Don’t just be a part of what’s happening, be what’s happening with Trend Takeovers.

This product gives you a high-impact 24-hour takeover of the Explore tab and the "What's happening" module on X.com — where people go to see what’s happening in real-time. Trend Takeovers are complemented by media-forward Companion Posts that appear in the Home Timeline, which together help maximize awareness and conversation around a certain topic, launch, or event.

Research

When added to campaigns, Trend Takeover generates impact throughout the funnel

3X

more effective message association

3X

increase in Trend engagement

9X

more effective favorability metrics

Source: X Nielsen Brand Effect Studies, 2020. N = 13 US Campaigns w/ Trend Takeover activations; N = 144 US campaigns without Spotlight activations. EyeSee New Ad Product Research, 2016.

How Trend Takeovers work

Trend Takeovers appear in the first or second slots of the “Trends for you” section in the Explore tab and “What’s Happening” module on X.com. When someone clicks on a Promoted Trend, they’ll see a post from your brand at the top of the search results, followed by organic posts directly from the conversation surrounding the trend. Trends will run for 24 hours within a country from midnight to midnight, and can also be bundled with Timeline Takeover for greater impact. 

Each Trend Takeover includes three key components: the #Hashtag (max 20 characters), Trend description (optional, max 70 characters), and Companion Posts. Trends run for 24 hours and reach everyone in the targeted country from midnight to midnight. Companion Posts will appear in people’s timelines, help encourage interaction, and maximize scale and impact.

Trend Takeover supports up to 3-minute videos, GIFs, and static images. Creatives will display on both mobile and desktop, with the ad running edge-to-edge on mobile. Trend Takeover ads will appear at the top of the For you tab in Explore for the full 24 hours of the campaign. 

When to use Trend Takeovers

Trend Takeovers are great for complementing the launch of something new or the promotion of a big event at scale. Breaking your news on X with a Trend Takeover can drive mass awareness, build interest, and drive conversation around a product launch, app launch, message launch, or new promotion.

Trend Takeovers also benefit brands looking to connect with what’s happening by maximizing discovery, building relevance, and securing adjacency to what you know will be trending that day — such as a cultural event, sporting event, holiday, national (topic here) day, or industry news.

Trend Takeovers are particularly strong for launching a new teaser trailer, for example, by maximizing awareness to a broad audience with engaging, immersive video. According to internal X data, people are 3X more likely to click-through an ad in the Trend Takeover unit — making it the perfect product to put your message in.

Key features

  • Premium placement: Be front and center where people go to see what’s happening.

  • Exclusive ownership: Maintain 24-hour ownership of the top Trends list and Explore tab. Only one client per day per country can run a Trend Takeover.

  • Massive audience reach: Raise awareness at scale around a topic, launch, or event with Companion Posts.

  • Ignite brand conversation with your own custom #hashtag and accompanying media posts in timelines.

  • Secure adjacency to what you know will be organically trending that day, from cultural events and holidays, to competitor’s launches.

  • Reservable + flat fee: Trend Takeovers are easy to plan and buy in advance, allowing for efficient CPM.

Creative best practices

  • Integrate your content: Build the campaign hashtag into your creative assets — photos, videos, GIFs, etc. Pin a relevant post to the top of your profile for those who click through to your profile to keep the experience consistent.

  • Sustain the buzz: Extend the conversation and engagement created by the Trend Takeover by running additional campaigns with the same hashtag on the days following the Trend.
  • Leverage the audience: Use Post Engager targeting in future campaigns to retarget people who have engaged with or were exposed to your Trend Takeover to capitalize on that valuable audience.
  • Keep it simple: Focus your copy and creative on a single topic, and make it declarative and intriguing. Avoid click-bait phrases. Use the Trend description to provide further context if needed, but don’t duplicate your hashtag or handle as they will have their own placements.
  • Keep it visual: Use visually engaging videos that around one minute long to ensure a continuous clean loop, and allow sufficient buffer time for viewers to see your logo or CTA before it replays. Don’t use a white background, place your logo in the top-left corner or middle of the frame, and avoid flashing or too much text overlay.
  • Use Creative Swapping to swap your creative on the day you’re running your Trend Takeover. This feature gives you the flexibility to extend your message and further tell your story.

Measurement

Track Trend Takeover metrics in Ads Manager, including Trend impressions, mentions, posts displays, Companion Post impressions, engagement rate, and impressions and clicks on your Promoted Trend hashtag.

Additionally, you can use brand effect studies to measure the “Companion Post” portion of your Promoted Trend buy that appears in the home timeline and shows up in search results.

Learn more about X Takeovers