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What’s new in the realms of paid search and social media? This month, Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment, and Laura Kubiesa, VP of Social Media Investment, compiled all the latest news, trends, and resources that advertising pros need to know.
THE NEWS: Pinterest is launching new product features to help users find, save, and shop for their holiday gifts, including the ability to create personalized, shoppable wish lists and share gift ideas within the platform. Pinterest is also offering shoppers more than a thousand curated gift guides across 27 categories by partnering with celebrities, creators, and brands.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest has been working to ride the growing wave of shoppable social media for years now, releasing several new product features and advertising opportunities. The platform’s efforts appear to be paying off, with Q3 2024 revenue increasing by 18% year over year.
EXPERT POV: “Pinterest’s new product features align with the mindset of its user base, people on a journey of seeking inspiration. We see this to be especially true around the gift-giving and holiday-hosting season. Brands can take advantage of these features from both an organic and paid standpoint. With features like "quick save," Pinterest is streamlining the process for users to save products they've discovered, and brands can capitalize on that with tactics like pin engagement retargeting or promotional creative messaging to help users continue down the path to purchase and increase overall conversion opportunities.” – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: TikTok has been given a deadline of January 19, 2025, to shut down in the United States or sell its assets to a new owner not based in China, or else face a nationwide ban. In the meantime, advertisers and marketers are proceeding with 2025 planning, setting budgets and developing content for the new year, with the future of the popular social media app hanging in the balance.
THE CONTEXT: Coincidentally, January 19, 2025, is also the day before Inauguration Day, when President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. Trump has promised to “save” the social media app, which continues to see growing consistent revenue and user growth with every quarter.
EXPERT POV: “As marketers, responding to industry change is just part of the job. As a social media marketer, however, you live for the quick pivot; the “move fast and break things” motto is in your DNA. The key to preparing for a potential ban on TikTok is to have a Plan B ready to go. Be sure not to just shift dollars as a reactive solution but to make thoughtful decisions about who you’re reaching on TikTok and how to reach those segments elsewhere, the objective you’re optimizing toward and if other channels have proven track records for driving your desired action, and ensuring influencer contracts include language for TikTok organic or Spark post substitutions that fulfill their agreement and maximize your investments.” – Jess Kaswiner | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta is revising its ad-free subscription option in Europe to comply with the European Union’s evolving data protection requirements. In response to regulatory pressures, Meta has lowered the subscription cost by 40. Additionally, it’s added an option allowing free-tier users to opt for "less personalized" ads. The new option limits data sharing, but also comes with unskippable ad breaks and less relevant ads, which may ultimately prove to be less appealing to users.
THE CONTEXT: These revisions come after EU regulators called Meta’s subscription offer a “pay or consent” scheme and a breach of the Digital Markets Act, saying it doesn’t give users much of a choice at all between paying a monthly fee or giving more personal data to Meta for targeted advertising.
EXPERT POV: “Advertisers using Meta in the EU should be cognizant of lower potential reach among target audiences compared to historical initiatives, given that a larger percentage of the more than 400 million Meta users in Europe may be tempted to begin paying the smaller monthly fee to avoid ads within their daily scrolling. Additionally, be mindful of possible performance dips due to Meta giving nonpaying European users the option to see ads that are less personalized. It is doubtful that Meta will publicize how many users ultimately opt into this feature. Still, we would not be surprised if cost metrics—especially CPMs—start to increase across campaigns that target a potentially dwindling pool of European users.” – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced it will no longer display political advertisements in the European Union, adding the EU to a growing list of regions where the company has already halted the practice, including France, Canada, and Brazil. The decision is in response to the EU's new Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulations—which are intended to curb election interference and enhance voter decision-making—that Google says will create operational and legal challenges.
THE CONTEXT: This is far from Google’s first scrape with EU policymakers, including an ongoing investigation over anti-competitive practices and, in a rare win, Google getting a €1.49 billion antitrust fine overturned. And that’s to say nothing of Google’s ongoing legal headaches in the US.
EXPERT POV: “This move won't affect most American advertisers, but it's something EU political advertisers must certainly keep in mind. In general, those advertisers should review the reach and targeting opportunities in other channels while, at the same time, maintaining their awareness of government and platform policy changes, as the risks for noncompliance are high.” – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: As we enter the holiday shopping season, consumers can now search for specific products within Google Maps and find nearby stores with that product in stock. Product categories available to search include home goods, electronics, apparel, and grocery store items. Google Maps pulls from Google Merchant Center product feeds to serve these results, expanding the inventory of shopping results from just Google Search and Google Shopping to now include Google Maps.
THE CONTEXT: This expands the available inventory for a business’ Google Merchant Center product feed beyond Google Search, Shopping, Images, and YouTube. It’s also one of several recently released Google Maps features or feature improvements, many of which are beneficial for route planning and more informed driving.
EXPERT POV: “This update to Google Maps now makes it even more important for advertisers with brick-and-mortar locations to keep their Google Merchant Center feed current. Shoppers on the go can easily discover what’s available in local stores, so ensuring your product feed is up to date—especially during the busy holiday season—helps make your inventory more visible to shoppers nearby who are ready to purchase.” – Alyssa Theo | Director, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: Earlier this month, X officially launched a beta version of X TV. This new TV app is X's move toward positioning itself as a video-first platform. Ad offerings are not available yet, though X has noted that they will be rolled out soon.
THE CONTEXT: Amidst the fragmenting/merging/“great rebundling” of streaming services, YouTube now tops the share of time spent with TV in the US. Not so coincidentally, X’s new offering looks a lot like the YouTube TV app.
EXPERT POV: Ad revenue on X has steadily declined from its peak in 2022, and with many projecting a continued decline year over year given the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the company, I hypothesize X will aim to monetize its new video platform sooner rather than later. Advertisers, stay tuned! - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: As a new way to encourage engagement on Instagram, Meta is rolling out comments on Stories. These comments will be visible to anyone who views the Story content, and will be displayed along the bottom of the frame so as not to be intrusive to users. If post creators prefer, commenting on their Stories can be switched off.
THE CONTEXT: Over the years, Instagram has continuously added features like these to formats like Reels and Stories to encourage engagement, and perhaps also to reduce passive scrolling. Engagement is good for business: More ways for users to interact means more ways for Instagram to understand user behavior and preferences, tailor content accordingly, and ultimately keep users on the platform for longer periods of time.
EXPERT POV: For anyone who has been paying attention to the updates Meta has been making to its suite of products over the past half-decade, this update comes as no surprise. Time on site rules supreme for social media platforms, and with Instagram already producing an average stay-on-site of over 3 minutes, the ability for users to comment on Stories may yield even more time on site for the average user. For any advertisers historically averse to running on Instagram Stories, now would be a good time to test out this placement, as doing so will open additional avenues for user interaction, which can lead to improved brand affinity and stronger paid efforts. - Erik Chellberg | VP of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads plans to merge its Video Action Campaigns (VAC) into its Demand Gen campaign type in Q2 2025. This will offer advertisers expanded reach, creative flexibility, enhanced audience targeting, and more.
THE CONTEXT: Whereas Video Action Campaign ads typically ran on Google’s video-friendly sibling channel, YouTube, this fold-in to Demand Gen will expand inventory across Google platforms and into external partners and outside properties. No telling if this in response to questions of Google’s video ad quality or the antitrust lawsuit leveled against Google by the US Department of Justice, which in part accuses the tech giant of favoring its own ad inventory—or if it’s simply another case of Google’s affinity for infusing AI into its newest ad products.
EXPERT POV: Google will introduce a migration tool in Q1 of 2025 and will force migration in Q2 2025. Migrating manually and adding assets for the additional ad formats Demand Gen offers will expand reach into available inventory. Testing and optimizing Demand Gen campaigns with video and image assets ahead of the migration could make results more efficient in preparation for when Video Action Campaigns are officially sunset. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google Ads’ Enhanced CPC (eCPC) bidding option will be removed for new Display and Search campaigns in October 2024, and all remaining campaigns using the strategy will transition to Manual CPC bidding by March 2025. This change effectively removes advertisers’ ability to lightly experiment with automated adjustments of campaigns set to manual bidding, in favor of newer Google Ads machine learning options and advanced automated bidding strategies.
THE CONTEXT: Google made the same move with Shopping campaigns last year, claiming that new, more advanced strategies like Target ROAS, Maximize Conversion Value, and Performance Max helped achieve the same or improved results, thanks to its enhanced technology. This is part of a larger trend of platforms pulling back on the manual controls they offer advertisers, instead pushing them towards more automated and AI-driven tools.
EXPERT POV: Rather than automatically migrating eCPC campaigns to manual CPC, consider testing the more advanced automated bidding strategies first. Determine whether click, conversion, or conversion value bidding is most in line with your objective and begin an experiment to measure whether a fully automated bidding option can improve your performance. The experiment results can inform whether to move fully to an automated bid strategy or migrate to manual CPC. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Starting in November, advertisers with Google’s Gambling and Games certification must be recertified if they have undergone significant changes to applicable product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing. Failure to do so will lead to immediate Google Ads account suspension.
THE CONTEXT: The timing of this announcement lined up with the start of the NFL season and has direct effects on many of today’s popular online betting and gambling websites. The change also comes amidst concerns over traditional and some nontraditional gambling advertisers targeting younger consumers and other vulnerable populations.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers in the gambling industry should closely review the Google Ads Gambling and Gaming policy and understand which segments of the policy are applicable to their business. If certification is required and there are significant changes to product offerings, regulatory compliance, or licensing, be transparent with your advertising partners so they can help submit new certifications when applicable and prevent the risk of account suspension. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: A shorter season (five fewer shopping days) between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year means one thing for marketers: It's crunch time! Consumers are already planning their holiday purchases, and here, Google provides insights—geared around what the company calls a consumer mindset framework—to help advertisers stay ahead of their holiday strategy.
THE CONTEXT: While the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas is short (26, to be exact), consumers’ holiday shopping season essentially starts on October 1, meaning Google’s “deliberate” planning mindset is just on the horizon. Marketers who start planning now will be better positioned to earn their share of expected retail sales growth, forecast between 2.3% and 3.3%, if not as much as 4.8%.
EXPERT POV: While Cyber Week is the highly anticipated peak of holiday season purchases, more consumers are beginning to shop and hunt for deals early. A holistic approach to reaching customers throughout their research and purchase journey, then, is key during the holiday season. Pairing campaign types—such as Search, YouTube, and Shopping or Performance Max—that support different phases of the purchase funnel will help you stay top of mind with consumers through their whole journey. - Alexa Dillon | VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Despite competition from generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft's Copilot, recent data suggests that Google Search traffic has not only held steady, but grew by 1.4% from May 2023 to May 2024.
THE CONTEXT: While Google is still the dominant force in the search space, it’s battling several threats to that dominance—a significant one being its recent loss of the DOJ’s antitrust suit against it, which found that the company illegally leveraged its power to suppress competitors and hinder innovation in the search space. While Google doesn’t appear to be losing traffic as a result of genAI platforms yet, several experts believe AI is more of a threat (or at least more of an urgent threat) than the antitrust suit loss, with Gartner forecasting a 25% drop in search engine volume in just two years thanks to chatbot-like applications.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to innovate its search experience in an effort to stay relevant in the face of AI—for example, by creating snackable results that engage consumers (and younger consumers at that) on Google itself. I think it’s going to be years before we see a true impact on Google on both the “generative AI taking away a large share” and “effects of a pending lawsuit” fronts. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience, or SGE) search results now match its organic top 10 results a whopping 99.5% of the time. An algorithm update appears to be responsible for this change, as Google may now be incorporating more traditional search ranking signals as part of its custom Gemini AI model.
THE CONTEXT: This is a major turnaround from earlier this year, when the answers generated by SGE didn’t match links from the top 10 organic search results a majority of the time, which resulted in less authoritative and trustworthy content.
EXPERT POV: The verdict is still out as to what these AI Overviews mean for clicks and click-through rates. I’m eager to see how Google chooses to monetize these results, knowing that it’s on the roadmap. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google has provided several back-to-school shopping options that include virtual clothing try-on experiences, photo-based product searching options, and high-ranking product results that display the discounts and sale prices shoppers seek.
THE CONTEXT: With the rise of shoppable media—as evident by consumer adoption, the additions of shoppable features on Pinterest and TikTok, and agency pros’ beliefs that shoppable video and AR/VR are “the next frontier”—it’s no surprise that Google wants in the game.
EXPERT POV: Features such as Google Lens and Circle to Search could be seen as “shortcuts” for consumers to identify products of interest. In other words, consumers may buy with fewer clicks. Keep in mind that these experiences are optimized towards mobile; therefore, the mobile purchase experience—including fast load times and mobile-friendly storefronts—is key. Optimized product feeds and high-quality photos and videos are also important. Lastly, take advantage of sale price annotations and local inventory ads to help stand out in highly competitive periods. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has now removed detailed targeting exclusions as an option for all new campaigns. Detailed targeting exclusions allowed advertisers to exclude people from their target audience based on demographics, interests, and/or behaviors. The intent for those exclusions was that advertisers would better refine their audiences, but Meta found through its own testing that they limited ad effectiveness rather than improved performance.
THE CONTEXT: Advertisers were made aware of this change months ago… sort of. In May, some Meta advertisers received an alert stating that detailed targeting exclusions would be removed in June. Meta claimed the alert was the result of a bug and that the company had no plans for immediate changes.
EXPERT POV: This shift in targeting abilities may cause some concern, but Meta’s AI system is becoming more advanced by the day. Meta shared that, in its own testing, the median cost per conversion for ad campaigns improved by 22.6% when detailed targeting exclusions were removed. Rest assured, if excluding audiences is of high priority, there are alternative exclusion options that can be set within account-level advertising settings. However, I recommend advertisers hold off on applying any settings to see how their campaigns do. You never know: Performance may come as a pleasant surprise. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has unveiled plans to update its approach to ad campaign measurement and attribution. These updates include adding segment-level conversion values within campaigns, a new opt-in attribution setting that optimizes for incremental conversions, and the option to integrate data directly from a CRM to give Meta more insights for targeting. The company says these updates will help connect advertisers’ Meta ads to conversions while also giving Meta more data points to work with for campaign optimization.
THE CONTEXT: These changes appear to put some of Meta’s levers back in the hands of advertisers, which may be a welcome change for advertisers concerned that Advantage+ has taken away too much of their control.
EXPERT POV: With any big change, there is usually a period of adjustment, and that’s likely what’s going to happen here. Advertisers will likely see a dip in performance as Meta’s system ramps up with this update. Don’t panic: The numbers will adjust themselves and hopefully show the improvement Meta intends. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced new insights for AI-powered campaigns, including Performance Max, taking the stance that creative is likely the largest opportunity to maximize the success of this campaign type. Insights include conversion data at the asset level, which can inform future creative development; improved image-editing capabilities using AI; and new creative partnerships with brands like Canva and Typeface to help with creative development at scale.
THE CONTEXT: Google isn’t the only platform encouraging advertisers to use its genAI tools for content creation—many others, including Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok, have rolled out AI-powered ad creative tools for image and text generation in the past year. Of course, as these tools and technologies are still relatively new and come with distinct risks, advertisers should set up quality control systems for any AI-driven content creation.
EXPERT POV: We know that Performance Max has left brands and marketers with very little control over campaign optimizations or how and where their ads serve. Creative reporting within PMax is also still a challenge regardless of this update, and we’re still waiting for Google to consider adding features that help advertisers match their brands’ creative styles and guidelines. At the same time, Google has made fantastic strides in PMax campaigns in terms of performance, and I would recommend this ad format for any CPA- or ROAS-based advertiser. - Lindsay Martin, Group VP of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit has introduced its own Lead Gen Ads option, allowing marketers to collect prospective customer information directly through their in-app promotions. Reddit also revealed a new integration with Zapier, which will simplify the process of transferring lead information from Reddit directly into your preferred CRM.
THE CONTEXT: With a growing monthly average user base of incredibly engaged and passionate Redditors, the platform’s leaders have stated aspirations to lead in various advertising types and targeting techniques, including efforts in performance and measurement beyond branding and community growth.
EXPERT POV: While lead gen ads are not a new product in the social world, this is a big leap forward for Reddit as it continues to grow its product offerings and become more competitive against other social platforms. While Redditors are extremely loyal to Reddit, that doesn’t mean advertisers should dive right in without a strategy. The last thing you want is a flock of Redditors giving you a thumbs down on your ad. - Lauren Brown, Director of Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After years of shifting promises and timelines, Google won't deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome after all. Instead, the tech giant is working on a “new experience” that will let users make informed decisions about cookie use and privacy across their web browsing, with settings they can adjust any time.
THE CONTEXT: Despite this change in Google’s cookie plans, consumers, regulators, and tech platforms alike are still pushing our industry towards a privacy-first paradigm. Bonus: Check out this video for even more context around Google’s announcement and what it means for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: This is undoubtedly a huge pivot for Google, but it doesn’t change the fact that advertisers still need to embrace cookieless solutions and privacy-first advertising. Google’s enhanced conversion tracking, which uses hashed first-party data to help supplement cookie-based conversion tracking, is one option that I’d recommend advertisers test and learn on. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Italy’s competition and consumer watchdog group is investigating Google, saying the company uses misleading practices to collect user data and link it to other data across its platforms including Google Search, YouTube, Chrome, and Maps.
THE CONTEXT: In early March, Google became subject to the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which sets guidelines for how internet platforms like Google, Meta, and others are allowed to collect and use consumer data. Shortly after the Digital Markets Act took effect, the EU began an investigation into Google’s parent company, Alphabet, for what they characterize as anti-competitive business practices. This is all part of a larger trend of regulators cracking down on Big Tech.
EXPERT POV: This is the fourth time Google has been charged with antitrust law violations and, unless they change their practices, the investigations are likely to continue. It’s a high-stakes issue for Google, as 77.8% of its income is from advertising. It’s important to stay up-to-date on these types of regulatory developments, as the results of these investigations could have significant impacts for advertisers. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Meta has launched Llama 3.1, the largest open-source AI model, claiming it outperforms GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. With 405 billion parameters, it was created using over 16,000 Nvidia GPUs and will be integrated into WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Quest headsets. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expects it to surpass ChatGPT in popularity by year-end.
THE CONTEXT: Meta has been in rapid AI development mode this year, rolling out several new generative AI features for advertisers in addition to Llama 3.1. Marketers will, of course, still want to apply human intervention to confirm the accuracy of these features’ output.
EXPERT POV: I expect the biggest players in tech and data to release shiny new variations of their generative AI tools while the AI market grows. That said, brands and advertisers should closely monitor the integration of these tools, especially as Meta continues to develop and promote generative AI tools that dramatically impact ad creation and delivery at the auction (Advantage+ comes to mind). As Meta enhances both user- and advertiser-focused AI tools, both audiences must approach these new capabilities with cautious optimism, leaning into proven strengths and avoiding the pitfalls that often riddle early versions of these tools. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: On July 1, Apple extended its 30% fee on Facebook and Instagram ad purchases through iOS devices to advertisers globally, a measure that could impact digital advertising costs and strategies in significant ways. Advertisers can avoid the fee by using desktop web browsers, with Meta updating its web platforms to match mobile app functionality.
THE CONTEXT: Critics label the fee as anti-competitive, while Apple defends its right to charge for access to its platform's audience. One of the fee’s critics is Meta’s Director of Privacy & Fairness Policy, Pedro Pavón. He notes that European Union investigators have determined Apple’s fee is in breach of the EU’s Digital Markets Act and that a US federal judge has criticized Apple for not complying with a court order related to its fee structure.
EXPERT POV: Marketers who use an iPhone or iPad to boost an organic post will face the 30% fee, which I anticipate will primarily impact small advertisers and business owners who rely on mobile for convenience and ease of use. Given that this upcharge on ads and boosted posts is avoidable—which may not be obvious to a busy small business owner without context or background for how these platforms work—it's more important than ever that brands work with trusted partners to ensure they can stretch their dollar as far as possible. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Younger generations are increasingly moving to visually engaging content on social media platforms like TikTok to find what they're looking for, rather than traditional search engines. And it’s not just younger generations: Nearly a quarter of Americans primarily use social media for searches.
THE CONTEXT: This trend echoes another recent report that shows brand discovery on social media outpacing both search and word of mouth, and yet another specifying that Gen Z prefers product discovery through video content (more easily viewed on social) over search. It’s important for advertisers to keep track of significant shifts like these in younger generations’ digital habits in order to reach them effectively.
EXPERT POV: This change is a long time coming and has significant implications for planning and buying, as it blurs the lines between search and social. From a practical perspective, I recommend that marketers focus on video content, especially short form, including vertical video for both TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Advertisers shouldn't skimp on creative or media planning efforts on these platforms, especially as it relates to vertical video and/or keyword planning. With this trend, integrating a marketing approach across search and social is now more important than ever. – Bryan O’Loughlin | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Deloitte’s new report details the impact of the creator economy from the perspectives of creators and influencers, brands, and consumers. One takeaway of note for advertisers: The report found that bonds between consumers and their favorite creators can lead to increased trust between consumers and the brands those creators partner with.
THE CONTEXT: Brands are upping their investment in the creator economy, with 92% planning to increase their spend on creator marketing this year, and 36% planning to spend at least half their entire digital marketing budget in the space.
EXPERT POV: Marketers can no longer afford to sit out on creator marketing. Creator content, whether owned, organic, or sponsored, is here to stay and is fast becoming the key to winning new customers. As we look at investment across social channels, advertisers may need to be wary of platform-managed creator marketplaces, where exclusive contracts can limit brand usage rights across the open internet. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Global ad spend across social media platforms is up by a whopping 14.3% year-over-year, making it the leading media channel in the digital ecosystem. This surge is fueled mostly by advertising spend on Meta platforms, which is set to surpass linear TV for the first time in history. The report attributes some incremental increase in social spend to artificial intelligence, suggesting that new tools that automate creative development and media planning, such as Meta Advantage+, are growing in popularity.
THE CONTEXT: The surge in social media ad spend comes on the heels of a rough couple of years for many of the biggest players in the social space, which were marked by plummeting stocks and missed revenue expectations. However, things haven’t turned around for all the major players: While Meta, Pinterest, TikTok, and Snapchat are forecast to enjoy double-digit growth this year, the report notes that X’s revenue woes will continue.
EXPERT POV: Brands show no signs of slowing down their social ad investments. To ensure the social presence of a business acts as a buttress rather than a mere prop, advertisers must understand what that businesses’ audience wants to hear/read/see, while simultaneously differentiating from competitor content. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: After screenshots surfaced on social media, Meta confirmed that it’s testing a non-skippable ad unit on Instagram. These new ad breaks will display a countdown timer that stops users from being able to browse through more content on the app until they view the ad. The functionality is similar to YouTube, which requires users to view some ads in full before and in the middle of watching videos. Information about the test is limited, such as where the test is running from a geographic standpoint, or how long the test will run.
THE CONTEXT: With 44% of consumers preferring to learn about products and services through short-form video (where Instagram excels), and 87% of marketers reporting that video has directly increased sales, an unskippable ad unit would likely strengthen the impact of Instagram’s video ad offerings for advertisers.
EXPERT POV: Should this “forced view” ad unit on Instagram become available more broadly, advertisers will have the opportunity to fully capture a user’s attention with guaranteed visibility, which will help to drive awareness and engagement. Brands will want to ensure the content of the unskippable ad is engaging, with clear messaging and CTAs. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Young people are increasingly using social apps—TikTok and Instagram in particular—to find products. Gen Z users search social apps primarily for fashion, beauty, food, and craft-related trends, but turn to Google for bigger purchases, places to go, and professional services.
THE CONTEXT: Whether looking to drive sales from younger or older consumers, there’s gold in those social media hills: Both product discovery and purchase happen on social media at rates higher than on messaging apps, video, or through influencers. This trend goes hand in hand with the rise of social search, with over 25% of 18 to 54-year-olds preferring to perform their online searches via social media.
EXPERT POV: The integration of generative AI into search and social platforms is likely to further blur the lines between different types of product discovery channels. By staying informed about these consumer trends, marketers can better navigate the shifting landscape of product/brand discovery and optimize their strategies for maximum impact. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google announced the launch of the Google TV Network, a network aimed at leveraging Google's vast audience to distribute and monetize TV content. This network is available within the Google Ads platform through YouTube and display campaigns and currently focuses on the six-second bumper ad format, with more formats coming. The platform offers a range of content, including sports, news, and entertainment, and focuses on personalized recommendations and targeted advertising.
THE CONTEXT: This move from Google empowers advertisers to make the most of the rapid growth of free ad-supported television (FAST) channels like Amazon’s Freevee, Pluto, Tubi, and Roku, in light of rising subscription costs for other streaming services.
EXPERT POV: For now, my team is opting in to the Google TV Network within non-skippable and bumper YouTube campaigns. As we see more data coming from this network, we will evaluate whether performance is of high enough quality to continue opting in—I recommend other advertisers do the same. – Heather Crider, VP of Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: On August 30th, Google Ads will complete the rollout of its new design to all markets. New features include a left-side menu that organizes pages into several high-level categories, a more comprehensive search function, and an overall cleaner and more modern-looking UI.
THE CONTEXT: Google trialed two different looks in 2023 before landing on this UI, based on user feedback, for the full rollout.
EXPERT POV: You can expect all the same functionality in the new Google Ads design, but the tools and menus have moved around a bit. Users should adopt the new Google Ads UI early and get as familiar as possible with the various changes, as there will be no way to opt out after August 30th. Certain things have shifted, from tools and menus to more efficient campaign segmentation for Performance Max, and it will take some time for the new navigation to become second nature. – Sofia Petrovsky, Director of Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Content at Google Marketing Live 2024 focused on AI-driven updates, including those that enhance creative production and consumer engagement. Key highlights include:
THE CONTEXT: Google has been on an AI tear as of late, adding AI-powered tools meant to help marketers with creative development, campaign management, and seemingly everything in between. Their stated purpose? To respond to an “evolution of [consumer] attention.”
EXPERT POV: This year’s GML was a continued push into AI, adding incremental features to a lot of what was released during GML 2023. Agencies and brand marketing executives should swiftly educate and integrate Google's AI-driven tools to streamline creative production, enhance consumer engagement, and optimize campaign management. By leveraging these advancements, they can achieve deeper customer connections and more efficient marketing outcomes in an increasingly AI-centric landscape. – Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: After years of Washington lawmakers scrutinizing the platform, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that will ban TikTok in the US if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell the app within a year. Lawmakers say their main concerns are around data privacy and the perceived possibility of “espionage, surveillance, [and] maligned operations”. ByteDance has called this ruling “unconstitutional” and has promised to sue.
THE CONTEXT: If they aren’t successful in court, ByteDance says that they’d rather shut down TikTok in the US than sell the app and its algorithms to an American buyer. A shutdown would be a big deal for advertisers, particularly those working for small- to medium-sized businesses: TikTok recently released a report that claims SMBs using the platform’s free services and paid advertising contributed a total of $24.2 billion to the US GDP last year.
EXPERT POV: Advertising on Tiktok will continue to operate as usual for now. However, with TikTok having risen to the top of the list of social platforms that provide value for SMBs, its political limbo status should cause advertisers to monitor and evaluate existing similar features across other social channels, like YouTube Shorts and Meta's Reels, while also keeping an eye out for any new copycat features or channels that come down the line. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Since the launch of TikTok Shop in September 2023, reports have suggested that the increase in TikTok Shop content was causing a decline in overall usage of the app. However, many users say they have increased their TikTok usage since TikTok Shop rolled out. Time spent on TikTok is plateauing and new user growth is slowing, but given that the app already has 107.8 million monthly US consumers who spend immense amounts of time on the app, this simply indicates a more mature growth phase.
THE CONTEXT: While time spent on the app and user growth may be slowing, forecasts still show that US adults will spend 58.4 minutes per day on TikTok in 2024, up from 2023 numbers and ahead of every other social media platform for most US social users.
EXPERT POV: While some headlines may infer growth on TikTok is declining, users are still spending a lot of time on the app, which presents a great opportunity for advertisers. Regardless of a brand’s location in the funnel, there’s something for everyone when it comes to advertising on the platform: TopView can be leveraged for boosting reach and awareness, while Video Shopping Ads maximize sales with tailored ads. TikTok is investing in rolling out new paid opportunities and features weekly, and there’s no time like the present for advertisers to ensure they’re capitalizing on the highly active user base and ensuring their paid social strategy encompasses TikTok. – Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: In honor of International Fact-Checking Day, Google highlighted its fact-checking tools and shared expanded features within those tools. “About this image”, for one, appears to be very similar to Reverse Image Search, with additional features that provide information about the image’s history as well as what reputable sites are saying about it. There’s also a new version of “Fact Check Explorer” that allows users to explore images as well as topics and people.
THE CONTEXT: Several of these tools and features were introduced in October 2023; since then, an academic study has questioned the sufficiency of Google’s fact-checking information for most false claims, even as the search engine’s results themselves were deemed “relatively reliable”. Fact-checking is particularly critical today for both advertisers and consumers due to the rise in AI-generated disinformation.
EXPERT POV: For better or worse, AI is becoming a bigger part of the online world, making it much easier for bad actors to create mis- and disinformation, which can quickly erode consumer trust. Tools like this can help by providing users with options to weed out that noise. However, they don't have complete coverage and the results can be unreliable. This puts the onus on advertisers to be as transparent in their messaging as possible to foster trust and prevent misinformation from spreading. – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s 2023 Ads Safety Report highlights their efforts to maintain a secure online environment. The search engine suspended or removed 12.7 million advertiser accounts last year—nearly two times the amount from the previous year—and blocked 5.5 billion ads for violating the company’s policies. Key violations included misrepresentation, financial services violations, and malware promotion. Google took several actions in response to these threats, including launching its Ads Transparency Center and updating its suitability controls.
THE CONTEXT: Duncan Lennox, Google VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety, cites generative AI as both an opportunity to improve policy enforcement and a challenge—with “bad actors operating with more sophistication, at a greater scale.” Deepfake artificial intelligence has made it cheaper and easier to launch campaigns featuring, for example, fake celebrity endorsements for products and services, which fraudsters have used to scam people out of money and personally identifiable information.
EXPERT POV: While this added safety and security good in general, we at Basis Technologies are seeing more questionable violations that require us to push for re-review. For clients in sensitive verticals like politics, health, and finance, it can make running ads more difficult and time-consuming. Be prepared to file certifications proving your identity and bona fides before your ads go live (or shortly after launch). – Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: LinkedIn has confirmed that Pages Messaging is being rolled out to all businesses after initially launching the functionality with some company pages in June 2023. In addition to its direct in-app messaging expansion, LinkedIn is also partnering with various third-party platforms to facilitate company messaging via social management tools (e.g. Hootsuite).
THE CONTEXT: Adding Pages Messaging was a logical step for LinkedIn, as social media activity continues to move to private messaging, 78% of consumers surveyed say they have used a direct messaging tool to interact with a brand, and 86% of those consumers said those direct interactions positively impacted their perception of the company.
EXPERT POV: Company leaders and advertisers alike have long been anticipating this feature’s rollout on LinkedIn. The imperative now is to be ready to react, which means devoting resources to monitoring, responding, and possibly escalating customer concerns. While social media—and, increasingly, DMs on social—are a means of customer service, they can also serve as “free” listening tools to help guide other marketing and advertising efforts, like campaign themes and timely creative swap-outs. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Instagram is testing out a new way to comment on specific images within a carousel post, with some users able to link their reply to a photo or video based on its assigned number in the display. This update is aimed at driving more focused engagement and encouraging more interaction around each content element, while also clearing up confusion around carousel post comments. Instagram is testing the new carousel tagging option with a limited number of users at this stage.
THE CONTEXT: Instagram carousels already have the highest engagement rate of all post formats. This new feature allows for even more engagement and could lead to strategic engagement opportunities and more learnings for creators, influencers, and brands.
EXPERT POV: Engagement rate rules supreme for Meta—the more a user engages with a brand, the more Meta “rewards” the brand for fostering that in-platform engagement. And with this content-specific engagement, advertisers are afforded more insight into what resonates most with their audience. They can use that information to inform other marketing and advertising collateral, from products to feature in display or shopping ads to tiles that could transfer from high-performing organic content over to high-performing advertising content. – Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s text ads appear to be showing up at different positions relative to organic results on a search engine results page. While “top ads” have generally appeared above the top organic results, this “definitional change” means top ads may also show below the top organic search results on certain queries. The placement of top ads is dynamic and may change based on the user’s search. Importantly, this will not affect how performance metrics are calculated.
THE CONTEXT: This change seems to be a by-product of Google’s search engine results page continuous scroll functionality, which allows ads to appear in more positions among organic results than just the top, and which has prompted Google to experiment with those positions. To that point, Google has provided tips for advertisers to help improve their ad positions.
EXPERT POV: If ads appear below the top organic results more frequently following this definitional change, we’ll be monitoring for downstream effects on click-through rate and other key metrics. In the meantime, maintaining a focus on ad rank factors such as relevancy remains key to securing top placements. – Alexa Dillon | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google recently launched Solutions, a free tool within Google Ads that automates and simplifies campaign management in an accessible and user-friendly way. It comes with several pre-built automation templates for the campaign management process, including Performance Reporting, Anomaly Detection, URL Validation, Budget Optimization, and Negative Keyword Management—all of which can be customized to meet different advertising needs.
THE CONTEXT: As part of this launch, Google announced it will sunset its manual solutions library. This focus on automation comes on the heels of Google’s new AI-powered approach to displaying responsive search ads and its application of Gemini for text and image generation within Performance Max (which has not been hiccup-free). Overall, the company continues to push advertisers towards automated processes across the campaign life cycle, from creative development, to ad placement, to campaign management.
EXPERT POV: Google continues to create new tools to help free up time for paid search managers to analyze data and make strategic decisions. By starting to use the Solutions tools now, search managers can get ahead on campaign management simplification, allowing them to spend more time on optimizations and recommendations that grow paid search accounts and drive business goals. – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Performance Max (PMax) campaigns are now available globally through Microsoft Advertising. PMax is an automated campaign type that uses artificial intelligence to create ad assets and automate ad optimization across different Microsoft Advertising formats and channels. The company will soon add more automated features, including brand exclusions (for less inflated performance metrics), search insights reports (for greater visibility into user queries), and video assets (for broader creative distribution) to its PMax campaigns.
THE CONTEXT: This global release follows a closed beta launch in May 2023 that Microsoft deemed successful. Time- and resource-strapped marketers who rely on manual efforts may appreciate PMax campaigns’ automated optimizations, even as some position the campaign type, similarly available through Google, as relinquishing control and decision-making power to artificial intelligence.
EXPERT POV: Rolling out PMax campaigns globally is another instance of Microsoft competing with Google, particularly by relying on AI and algorithms that identify when and where someone is most likely to convert. When it comes to the landscape of search advertising, Google is still far and away the most dominant search engine, but Microsoft integrating ChatGPT into Bing helped increase its market share from 6.35% to 8.07% over the past year. When determining whether PMax may be a valuable, additional layer in your search investment, consider your ideal demographic (as older generations are more likely to use Bing) and your vertical (as certain industries, like healthcare and financial services, attract larger shares of older users). – Nick Tuttle | Director, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: Reddit is launching a suite of tools, called Reddit Pro, for businesses looking to grow their organic presence on the community-driven platform. Currently in its beta testing phase, Reddit Pro uses AI to help brands identify trending topics and conversations, even allowing them to see when their brand has been mentioned in a subreddit. The suite of features also includes content drafting, scheduling, and reporting tools, as well as the ability to easily turn organic posts into paid advertisements. This is Reddit’s first set of free tools meant to inform businesses’ social media strategies, and the company plans to launch additional features within it later this year.
THE CONTEXT: The Reddit Pro launch came as the company prepared its initial public offering (IPO) at a stock price that valued the company at nearly $6.5 billion. Reddit is likely leveraging this new suite of free tools to entice brands to the platform and turn them into paying advertisers.
EXPERT POV: All eyes are on Reddit as the platform continues to make headlines with news of its successful IPO. Brands looking to connect with a wider audience may want to explore adding this channel to their organic and paid social portfolio. These new Reddit Pro tools—only available to brands that are active on Reddit—grant deeper insight into what Redditors are saying about brands, what aspects of products or businesses are resonating with customers, and which industry topics are trending. For brands not yet using the platform with a u/ (Reddit-speak for “username”) of their own, these new tools may incentivize them to create Reddit profiles and start an “OP” (“original post”) of their own. Pro Tip: Get to know the Reddit lingo! LSHMSFOAIDMT – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: TikTok has been under the US political microscope for some time, but now it’s ramping up its own political activity: TikTok users were shown a pop-up message earlier this month, urging them to call members of Congress to voice their opposition to a bill that aims to ban the app in the United States if its parent company, the China-based ByteDance, doesn’t sell it. Congress was quickly flooded with phone calls from TikTok users of all ages; the majority of calls, however, were from children. Since then, anonymous sources say some of the calls have turned threatening and concerning.
THE CONTEXT: Less than a week later, the US House of Representatives passed the bill, 352 to 65 in favor of a nationwide TikTok ban if the app isn’t sold, driven by concerns over the data security of US TikTok users. The bill’s future in the Senate is unclear, but President Biden has said he would sign the bill if Congress passes it.
EXPERT POV: While a ban on TikTok in US markets could have significant implications for brands already active on the platform—especially those leveraging it for influencer marketing and e-commerce sales—daily active usage is not showing any signs of slowing. The recent developments around TikTok highlight a continuing concern with and focus on data privacy in the digital advertising space. Taking a step back from TikTok specifically, this situation underscores the importance of diversification in media planning. In the short term, however, Committee and House votes are the beginning, not the end, of a long process. – Jess Kaswiner | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest’s recent campaign, “The P is for Performance,” touts the platform’s full-funnel approach to advertising, including lower-funnel case studies that show as much as a 28% increase in conversions and up to a 96% increase in traffic for its advertisers. Pinterest’s performance products include mobile deep links and direct links, making it easier for users to convert, plus shopping ads for greater inspiration and Pinterest API for Conversions for higher reporting visibility.
THE CONTEXT: In years past, Pinterest’s ethos of being a place for discovery has appealed to advertisers seeking upper-funnel awareness for their brands. With this campaign, Pinterest seeks to broaden its draw for advertisers who may only think of it as an upper-funnel platform. The campaign launched shortly after Pinterest released its Q4 2023 earnings, highlighting 12% revenue growth compared to the same period in 2022 and its 11% increase in global monthly active users.
EXPERT POV: Pinterest has thrived as one of the first social platforms to sit in a space that blends paid search and social channels. It’s no surprise that as a historically well-established traffic driver, Pinterest has now set its sights on also fiercely competing in lower-funnel effectiveness. Recent product releases have proven to be fairly low-lift activations for advertisers, particularly in the retail, e-commerce, travel, and professional services industries. Brands can significantly cut down the path to conversion by leveraging Pinterest to display product information, prices, and descriptions directly to their audiences’ feeds via shopping ads and simplify the consumer journey by tapping into direct links. – Jenny Lewis | Director, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Online sales for Cyber Week 2023 were up 7.8% year-over-year, with e-commerce sales totaling $12.4 billion on Cyber Monday. Paid digital marketing was a big driver of that growth, and advertisers are relying more on automated platforms to enhance efficiencies and expedite the scaling of campaigns. On the other hand, with advancements in automation and AI, invalid traffic has become more and more sophisticated over the past three years. One advertiser explained that tackling invalid traffic led to “more stable and predictable growth across our most important paid media channels.”
THE CONTEXT: 22% of ad spend in 2023 (or $84 billion out of a total $382 billion) was lost due to ad fraud. However, $23 billion of that amount would be recoverable with fraud mitigation platforms in place. Given that political advertising for the US presidential election will drive up ad costs at the start of the holiday season, driving efficiencies by leveraging the right technologies will be especially key for advertisers this year.
EXPERT POV: Ad networks aren’t incentivized to crack down on the increased bot traffic we’re seeing due to AI advances and the corresponding ease with which bad actors can create bots. So, the onus is on the marketer to stay alert for signs of high levels of bot traffic. These include high bounce rates and traffic spikes without corresponding conversion increases. Consider ways to block or limit these, like captchas, using conversion-based goals with machine learning bidding, and optimizing landing page content to be very specific to the intended conversion. — Jesse Foley | VP, Search Media Investment
THE NEWS: The IAB’s new comprehensive consumer privacy study found that nearly 80% of consumers would prefer to get more ads in exchange for not having to pay for websites and apps, and that 90% prefer personalized ads, but that nearly half feel websites and apps aren’t clear enough about how their data is used.
THE CONTEXT: With Google planning to fully deprecate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser by the end of this year, and signal loss across the industry as a result of data privacy concerns, figuring out how to use consumer data in ethical, transparent ways to serve personalized ads to consumers is a must for digital advertisers.
EXPERT POV: The fact that most consumers would rather receive more ads to retain their free access to websites and apps means that advertisers’ digital media investments are well-positioned to reach consumers who find them valuable. Advertisers should take a “test and learn” approach to understand which channels work best given their KPIs and to remain flexible and fluid with budget allocations based on results. —Laura Kubiesa | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Google’s responsive search ads rely on artificial intelligence to combine headlines and descriptions based on consumer behavior and predicted outcomes. New AI-powered features allow Google to decide when an ad should display only one headline versus two, with the second headline appearing at the beginning of the ad’s description section. Google can now also supplement or override an advertiser’s manual assets—like images, sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets—with its own AI-generated assets if it feels doing so will help an ad’s performance.
THE CONTEXT: AI’s influence on ad placement and creative continues to grow. Search Engine Land weighed the pros and cons of Google’s update, noting that while it may serve to drive engagement and performance, it also means that advertisers are surrendering more control to Google. At the same time, artificial intelligence tools often don’t perform with 100% accuracy—and as this is a newer feature, advertisers have no benchmark for how much accuracy these specific features can provide.
EXPERT POV: With the increased focus and adoption of AI capabilities in digital media, it’s no surprise Google continues to roll out these features within their campaign types and ad formats. As the industry continues to trend in this direction, getting left behind means being unable to capitalize on the reported improved performance of these AI-powered features. However, many advertisers need to maintain control over the images and copy that run within their ads, so turning off the auto-assets feature within Google Ads may be the better option. Advertisers who aren’t comfortable giving up control can still take advantage of some of the latest updates by testing the new campaign-level headlines and descriptions and scheduling them to run during certain time frames, which can help manage time-sensitive promotional copy. — Alyssa Theo | VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: AI and automation within Meta's ad products, such as its Advantage suite, helped fuel 24% year-over-year growth for Meta's ad business in Q4 2023. The social giant also shared advertiser success stories that included increased revenue and improved performance metrics for brands’ campaigns when they employed Meta’s AI ad tools. Meta plans to expand its generative AI features, including text and image variations, to further enhance advertising capabilities.
THE CONTEXT: Meta, along with every other social platform, is placing a high level of priority on building out further automation and AI solutions that work in tandem with their advertising algorithms to drive strong results for customers while making the lives of marketers easier.
EXPERT POV: In the face of ongoing question marks with Meta’s advertising platform (e.g. third-party cookie deprecation, ATT impacts, and data privacy regulations), capitalizing on AI and automation solutions integrated into the platform is an effective way to manage media campaigns efficiently, expand existing audience targeting to reach engaged new users, and create a high volume of ad iterations for easier creative testing. — Erik Chellberg | VP, Social Media Investment
THE NEWS: Pinterest has begun rolling out an integration that allows ads to show on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager. The integration will make it so that when Pinterest users come across a Google ad, they’ll be sent to the advertiser’s website to finalize their transaction. This partnership will not only broaden the reach of advertisers using Google Ads but will allow them to engage an active, high-value consumer base.
THE CONTEXT: Pinterest’s stock dipped almost 28% in early February, but bounced back after this Google deal was announced.
EXPERT POV: For those advertisers looking to generate discovery, this new inventory source could be very beneficial. Google is rolling out this new option over the next several quarters, and it will be available within Google’s Ad Manager. As of now, Basis Technologies is waiting to see how this inventory performs to inform future recommendations. — Robert Kurtz | Group VP, Search Media Solutions
THE NEWS: TikTok's Marketing Science team partnered with IPG's MAGNA Media Trials to conduct a study of digital video through the lens of TikTok’s impact on its advertisers. Contents of the report include TikTok’s positive effect on brand sentiment and consumer experience, higher engagement with skippable vs. non-skippable video ads, how contextual content adjacency increases ad view time, and the details of TikTok Pulse, a feature that guarantees ad placement next to top-performing organic content.
THE CONTEXT: TikTok has faced several hurdles in the past few years, not the least of which being several countries and US states implementing full or partial bans of the platform. And although TikTok’s growth is slowing, it still led 2023’s list of app downloads and consumer spending.
EXPERT POV: Advertisers are right to prioritize TikTok, given the time users spend on the app per day, averaging 53.8 minutes, and the platform’s abundance of out-of-the-box and accessible ad products, betas, incentives, and platform support. — Alana Putterman, Group VP, Social Media Investment
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