The holiday season is starting and everyone is staying busy. YouTube is developing an ad-buying platform for Shorts. Simultaneously, TikTok introduces Creative Cards. On a regulatory front, the European Union has taken a firm stance against targeted advertising on Facebook and Instagram, prompting the launch of subscription services as an alternative revenue stream for Meta. Join us as we delve into these latest developments shaping the future of social media and online advertising.
YouTube is working on an ad-buying platform for Shorts
While YouTube is still aggressively fighting ad blockers and pushing people to subscribe to YouTube Premium instead, they are also apparently working on an ad-buying platform dedicated to Shorts. So far, you cannot choose Shorts specifically if you wish to advertise on YouTube, Google will automatically crop or resize ad content for Shorts.
YouTube Shorts, which generates over 70 billion views per day, has experienced significant growth and is a very interesting ad placement, especially for mobile apps and games. The alpha testing phase has been in progress for several months, involving a select group of tech providers and brands. The motivation behind this move by YouTube is to address buyer frustration stemming from the current inability to separate Shorts from other video ad purchases. Advertisers participating in the program have access to measurement metrics such as reach, frequency, and view-through rates.
TikTok launches Creative Cards
Feeling short on creativity? TikTok just launched a new Creative Cards tool. This series consists of more than 100 digital prompts designed to inspire creativity and enhance the quality of promotional clips. These prompts cover various aspects such as community growth, “edutainment,” creator tools, trends, and storytelling tips.
You can navigate through the cards to find inspiration and know what works best on the platform. If you need answers, you might be able to find them there.
Set up like a card game, you can shuffle through all the available cards and pick another one if the one you got isn’t helpful enough. TikTok emphasizes that this tool helps maintain content freshness, preventing it from becoming stale, and can be particularly useful for promoting seasonal products and gift ideas. You can access all Creative Cards through TikTok’s platform by signing up with an email.
EU banned targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram so they launched a subscription
The European Union’s data regulator has prohibited Facebook and Instagram from utilizing personal data for targeted advertising unless users provide explicit consent. In anticipation of a potential decline in revenue, Meta introduced paid subscriptions to offer users an ad-free service.
Users can pay 9.99€/month for ad-free use of Facebook and Instagram on their computer, or 12.99€/month on the phone. The company believes that offering subscriptions for tracking-free usage will address regulators’ concerns.
The EU hasn’t yet commented officially on the matter to say if it would accept, or not, the paying subscription as a legitimate solution to their concerns.
Splitmetrics acquires AppRadar
Splitmetrics acquired AppRader in a seven-figure deal in November. The two companies will be merging to grow their offer.
“App Radar has a range of very powerful tools that are fully complementary to our own. By combining these services we can offer a market leading end-to-end solution that will drive incredible growth for our customers,” said Max Kamenkov, CEO and co-founder of SplitMetrics.
This was not the only acquisition of the month in the industry, AppsFlyer acquired gaming and apps data analytics firm devtodev.
Numbers of the month
What we talked about this month
Hi there, I’m Marine (she/her), I’m a Content Manager at Apptamin. Apptamin is a creative agency specialized in app videos (video ads, app store videos, etc.).
