After having lost its deal with Google, Twitter is now at risk of losing the chance to re-up with Bing. Both Bing and Twitter have a lot at stake with this partnership, but the companies have been unable to agree on contract terms.
The Difficulty with the Deal
Bing and Twitter are just a few months away from the expiration of their data feed partnership, which powers the niche Bing Social search. However, according to several insider sources quoted by All Things Digital, Bing and Twitter may be having trouble settling on workable contract terms.
According to All Things Digital, "The pair [Bing & Twitter] is still far apart on a number of issues, including the price and term of the data licensing, the way the tweets and advertising linked to it will be presented on Bing, the cut of that advertising, and even how much traffic Bing pushes back to Twitter."
Bing, who has paid Twitter approximately $15 million (U.S.) annually, is now being asked for twice that amount. This isn't the big problem, though, according to insider sources. The real issues stem from the UI control, advertisement cut, and backlinks.
What's at Stake
On Twitter's side, the big concern is income. Having failed to launch a highly successful ad mechanism on their site (they are still working on a self-service program, slated for later this year), Twitter is in need of strong revenue sources.
Twitter's failure to re-up their partnership with Google, which began in October 2009 and expired July 2 and resulted in Google shuttering Google Realtime search, meant a loss of tens of millions of dollars. Certainly, $30 million annually isn't negligible.
Bing has a lot to gain as well. The introduction of Facebook-prompted results in the Bing SERP was the original cause of the social search phenomena. If Bing can get a deal with Twitter while Google stands on its own, Bing will have a monopoly on the top social networks of today.
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