Dive Brief:

• Twitter’s user base is projected to increase by 10.9% this year, according to eMarketer.
• The prediction from eMarketer gives Twitter 286.3 million active monthly users by the end of the year.
• The report comes out in advance of Twitter’s earnings report next week and should boost the confidence of Twitter investors and Wall Street analysts.

​Dive Insight:

It's still too early to tell, but it looks like Twitter's turnaround strategy under Jack Dorsey may be starting to pay off. 

Twitter has been actively rolling new features and ad formats to innovate its product in the face of stagnant user growth and weak ad revenues. Twitter has been making an aggressive push into live streaming video: Beginning with a partnership with the NFL to live stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this fall, Twitter has been inking deals for live video content. The platform also live streamed the Republican presidential convention and plans to live stream this week’s Democratic presidential convention.

Twitter has also been making moves that appeal to brands, from testing out a new Featured Tweets tab that allow curated featured tweets for brand pages to unlocking its Audience API for all brands less than two weeks ago.

These moves seem to have made a difference, if eMarketer’s forecast is anything to go by. Twitter has been under duress for months with investors concerned about company's roadmap for the future. Twitter was recently surpassed by both Instagram and Snapchat in key user metrics.

For now, the ball is in Twitter’s court. Marketers should watch to see how it delivers on its live streaming promise and whether new ad units can bring value to brands.