Teens Abandoning TikTok Because of (checks notes) “Life”

[00:00:00] It is Tuesday March 12th. Today, is its reign finally over TikTok starts losing users. Also

[00:00:09] the social media posts you might not realize are being broadcast, the skyrocketing growth

[00:00:14] of out-of-home and Apple is about to have a big ads here ahead.

[00:00:20] I'm Tod Maffin, that's ahead today in Digital Marketing.

[00:00:26] In the growing lore of the internet era, there's a big section on copying. And the chief

[00:00:32] villain in the canon is usually meta. Much of its success comes from lifting ideas from

[00:00:37] other apps. Stories being the best example, it was originally Snapchat's, but when Snapchat's

[00:00:44] founders turned down an acquisition offer from Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg simply ordered

[00:00:49] his left tenants to copy it. The same thing happened with TikTok, less the acquisition

[00:00:54] offer. When TikTok started getting crazy popular, Metacopied the Vertical Video Format

[00:00:59] and built Reels into Instagram. Now a new book of lore is set to be written with TikTok

[00:01:07] apparently poised to copy Instagram, and not just a couple of features, the whole app.

[00:01:14] One software engineer has shown back end code from the current TikTok app with references

[00:01:19] to a new and unannounced app called TikTok Photos. The addition of a separate TikTok

[00:01:27] Photos app is not overly surprising, given that TikTok has already added a photo mode

[00:01:32] for still images in stream and has been encouraging users to post more photos of late. It also

[00:01:38] makes sense in the context of Chinese app trends. China's own version of Instagram is the

[00:01:44] Tencent Back Chow Hongshu, which is seen big success of late after incorporating e-commerce

[00:01:49] features. Chow Hongshu generated more than $500 million in net income in 2023, far exceeding

[00:01:56] expectations for the platform and now has more than 200 million active users in the nation.

[00:02:08] So if TikTok is so darn popular, why is it spending its time working on another app?

[00:02:13] One that given TikTok currently does photo posts could even cannibalize its user base?

[00:02:19] One big reason? TikTok is, for the first time, losing users in the US. Until now we've

[00:02:26] seen TikTok's growth rate slow down but it's never been negative. New numbers show that

[00:02:31] its user base shrank in the last quarter of 2023 only the former Twitter also lost users.

[00:02:38] Well, even the aging Facebook grew faster than TikTok in Q4.

[00:02:43] So what is going on?

[00:02:45] Quoting Business Insider?

[00:02:47] Quote, one interesting theory is that TikTok users are growing up and taking on new responsibilities

[00:02:53] that leave less time to watch videos. When the app launched it took the world by storm,

[00:02:58] young kids and teenagers were especially drawn to the services unique creator-friendly content

[00:03:03] and culture. Let's say those users were about 13 when they first downloaded the app in 2016

[00:03:09] and 2017. Now, those people are at least 20 years old. They have full-time jobs or they're studying

[00:03:17] at college. For many their parents no longer do their laundry, cook their meals and ferry

[00:03:21] them to and from sports games, meetings and other engagements. For readers who have not yet

[00:03:26] experienced this, it's called life. This stuff takes a lot of extra time which leaves less

[00:03:33] for TikTok. Unquote. Analytics firm data.ai says TikTok's average monthly users between the ages

[00:03:40] of 18 and 24 declined in the US by nearly 9% from 2022 to 2023.

[00:03:52] Be careful what you post on your brand's social media accounts. It could start showing up

[00:03:56] in places other than social media. For a long time now social posts have appeared in Google

[00:04:01] results, but now social posts may start showing up on Google business profiles. Not everywhere though.

[00:04:07] Google says only for some countries and only for some profiles though that's likely to expand.

[00:04:13] It doesn't appear as if there is a way to disable this other than to remove social media from your

[00:04:18] Google business profile entirely. In some cases, Google might add your brand's social profiles

[00:04:24] to your business profile automatically. There are no measurement tools for this,

[00:04:29] so you won't be able to tell how many views or clicks those social posts generate.

[00:04:33] Though apparently this new section can be edited via the API.

[00:04:42] Advertising is booming especially when it's out in the open. According to recent data from

[00:04:46] guideline out of home advertising saw a whopping 27% jump in the last quarter of 2023 compared to

[00:04:54] the year before. And this growth isn't just a small bump, it's part of a larger trend that seeing

[00:05:01] more national ads which are growing at a rate of 50%, significantly outpacing local ads growth

[00:05:07] of 24%. Live events are stealing the show with an eye popping 181% increase in ad spending

[00:05:14] making them the fastest growing out of home media format. But cinemas and the category known as

[00:05:20] street furniture which I had to look up and apparently what they mean by that is bus stops and

[00:05:25] billboards. Those aren't far behind with increases of 57% and 54% respectively.

[00:05:33] But it's not all rosy, the restaurant sector fells a pinch with a 17% dip in ad spending

[00:05:40] including a 20% drop among fast food chains.

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[00:07:30] Apple TV plus might soon be shaking things up by adding ads if we read the tea leaves right.

[00:07:37] The tech giant has brought on board Joseph Cady a seasoned ad executive from NBC Universal hinting at

[00:07:43] a potential shift towards an ad supported model. This move would make Apple TV plus the last of

[00:07:50] the major streaming platforms to embrace ads, a path already taken by Netflix, Disney plus and HBO Max

[00:07:57] among others. At NBC, Cady managed partnerships with tech heavyweights like Amazon, Google and Tiktok,

[00:08:04] all of which of course positions him well for this new role. Apple has been on a hiring spree

[00:08:10] pulling in talent from NBC direct TV peacock and other media entities.

[00:08:15] They're also reportedly planning to launch an AI powered ads platform soon designed to optimize

[00:08:22] ad placements within the app store. This is currently interesting with a handful of brands.

[00:08:27] I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do it.

[00:08:29] Bit of a short show today just because there isn't a lot of news happening today.

[00:08:33] I assure you that's the reason it has nothing to do with the fact that the new season of Rainbow

[00:08:37] Six Siege is out as of right now. Okay, that's it. Gotta go see tomorrow.

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