Twitter may use Bluefin Labs acquisition to drive ad revenue

With the purchase of social TV analytics firm Bluefin Labs, Twitter is looking to integrate its microblogging service with television in a big way, leveraging its massive user base to gain a marketing advantage on rivals like Facebook.

Although the exact financials of Twitter's most recent acquisition are under wraps, the buy is said to be the company's largest to date, supposedly worth more than 2011's $40 million purchase of TweetDeck, reports BusinessInsider. The publication estimates the deal came out to between $50 million and $100 million as Bluefin raised $20.5 million in funding to date.

Twitter's move into the nascent market of social TV is seen as a logical step as the platform is already used a so-called "second screen" by millions of users who post real-time tweets about various TV shows. According to Bluefin's website 30.6 million comments were posted on Twitter, Facebook and GetGlue regarding Sunday's Super Bowl XLVII, with the messages read by 12.9 billion people.

While Twitter's plans for Bluefin have not yet been announced, the company could be angling for enhanced ad revenue as the service offers detailed reports on which brands are trending on a variety of social media platforms.

Previous to the Bluefin Labs buy, Twitter signed a multi-year partnership with Nielsen to create the first social TV ratings system, which will monitor how many tweets mention a specific program or series.