YouTube's Hour of Power

[00:00:01] It's Friday, January 31st. This week, you can now rent the very top of YouTube by the hour. The cost to advertise on Meta's platforms is up 14%, busting a common myth about page titles and SEO, and the hack to remove Google's AI summaries that your mother will hate. I'm Steph Gunn sitting in for Tod Maffin. All that ahead in our Friday Wrap-Up of the Week in Digital Marketing.

[00:00:28] We start, as usual, with changes in the advertising space. And Meta is saying it's done playing Edward Scissorhands with your ads. The company is updating how flexible media works. This ad format auto-optimizes your creative to target what Meta thinks will get the best response, tailored for placement and audience. But that sometimes means your ad gets auto-cropped, unfavorably.

[00:00:50] Now, Meta is cutting back on cropping for image ads. It said this week it won't apply flexible media if it risks chopping off objects or text. It should be noted that for video ads, cropping could still happen, but you can turn it off in the ad creative section at the ad level. Meta also this week launched a new Connect with Leads in Messenger feature. It lets you start conversations with leads after they submit an opt-in to receive messages.

[00:01:17] When you turn the feature on, leads will see a checkbox to agree to receive updates from your business and start a conversation on Messenger that includes their contact information. YouTube is testing a new ad placement that lets brands own its most prominent ad space, the very top of the main homepage. And they're pricing it by the hour. Advertisers can purchase specific hours before, during, or after key events.

[00:01:43] As for how much? YouTube hasn't shared exact pricing, but the flat cost per hour model certainly provides more predictable budgeting compared to traditional impression-based pricing. Your creative could be draining your budget. A new study shows that boring ads need 2 times to 2.5 times more spend to have the same impact as interesting ones. Interesting ads get 6 times more share growth than boring ads.

[00:02:08] Amazon this week launched Brand Plus, a new ad-targeting tool that analyzes shopping, browsing, and streaming data to adjust ad buys across streaming TV and online video, targeting an audience most likely to purchase an advertiser's product. The tool lets advertisers buy ads across Amazon-owned properties, including Prime Video, Twitch, as well as some video publishers like BuzzFeed. Also, a bunch of Google updates as usual.

[00:02:32] Google Ads is testing a new used-since column in PMAX reports that is visible at the asset level and displays the date an asset was added to the campaign. Their cookie-less measurement tool is here. Meridian, the open-source marketing mix model, is now available to marketers worldwide. The platform offers customizable options through code and model parameters, analyzing key metrics like conversions, profit, sales, and website visits, with the option to include non-media variables. And reporting changes coming soon.

[00:03:02] Google is making several major changes to its ad platforms, with multiple features being deprecated or modified in early 2025. Those affected include reach, report confidence, lifetime frequency caps, and a reminder that the ad's creative studio will shut down on March 25th.

[00:03:20] Google also this week has reversed its stance on Performance Max campaign controls, clarifying that placement exclusions work via both API and UI, contradicting prior documentation and support guidance. Previously, Google said exclusions only worked through its user interface, not via API. And finally, big changes are on the way. Google this week announcing major updates to demand gen campaigns, including new controls over ad placement and creative tools.

[00:03:50] Alongside these changes, the company is retiring video action campaigns starting in April. Among the changes, finally, vertical 9x16 image ads for shorts. That's coming next month. To the world of social media now. YouTube this week gave some insight into how its recommendation system works these days, explaining how factors like time of day, device type, viewer satisfaction, and the use of large language models are reshaping its algorithms.

[00:04:20] The company says click-through rate and watch time still matter, but YouTube is also putting more weight behind user satisfaction surveys these days. Also, the time of day and device type directly influence what content gets recommended, with the algorithm adapting to viewer patterns based on whether they're watching on a phone or TV. BlueSky added a video tab to user profiles, letting users showcase uploaded videos, whether original or cross-posted from other social networks.

[00:04:49] This follows last week's launch of a TikTok-like custom video feed. Some new numbers on the vertical video wars. TikTok still dominating the short-form video space, with users spending 55% of their time watching content on the app. Instagram Reels comes in second at 37%, YouTube Shorts at 25%, Facebook at 21%. TikTok, by the way, still isn't in Apple or Google app stores.

[00:05:18] More than a week after being pulled due to the U.S. ban or divest law. While the app works for existing users, new installs or updates are blocked. And no word yet from Apple or Google on when it may return. As for its use, traffic is almost back to pre-shutdown levels, with just a 10% difference between now and pre-ban. And in today's newsletter, we reported in new data that shows TikTok's role in podcast discovery is growing,

[00:05:43] with 20% of U.S. listeners tuning in through the platform, up from 17% in 2022. You can sign up to the newsletter for free. It comes out every single weekday. Just go to todayindigital.com slash newsletter or tap the link at the top of the show notes. Over to LinkedIn. Its latest earning results show a 9% revenue bump, like it always does. LinkedIn claimed it's seeing record engagement, but still won't define what it's measuring, nor what the actual members are.

[00:06:13] It's also updating its Top Voice badge program. Now members will only keep the blue badge for six months, with LinkedIn reviewing allocations regularly. Previously, Top Voices kept their badge indefinitely. The company this week also shut down fake AI people who claimed they were looking for work. One profile for an AI named Ella claimed, I don't need coffee breaks, I don't miss deadlines, and I'll outperform any social media team you've ever worked with. Guaranteed.

[00:06:43] Some of the meta news this week. The company's report card came in. In the past, revenue grew 21% year-over-year to $48 billion in Q4, surpassing expectations. Ad impressions across Meta's platforms increased 6% during the year-end period, with the average ad price up 14%. CPMs are expected to keep increasing. Advantage Plus shopping campaigns saw 70% year-over-year growth in Q4.

[00:07:10] Instagram DMs will now include business chat labels in the top title bar to separate them from personal chats. Unlike personal chats, business messages can be shared with Meta for future ad targeting and marketing purposes. Instagram is adding some new views-related metrics for Reels. View Rate tracks the percentage of viewers who watched beyond the first three seconds, with a comparison to average retention. You can also filter by followers versus non-followers.

[00:07:38] And Views Over Time shows how many views your post has received so far, compared to the average views your posts typically get over the same period, with breakdowns by followers and non-followers. And Instagram this week added a translation option for DMs, letting users translate messages directly within the app into their native language. Some interesting SEO news broke this past week.

[00:08:04] Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky reported that longer title tags, even ones with 200-plus characters, can actually improve rankings. While Google cuts off title tags after about 60 characters, adding an ellipsis in search results, it still reads the entire title. More relevant keywords mean more chances of matching multiple search queries, improving visibility.

[00:08:28] While some SEO tools warn about readability and click-through rates for long titles, Hawkins reports no evidence that long tags hurt user experience or conversion rates. Joy wrote in her blog post, The dot dot dot dot in search results isn't the problem. It's an opportunity. You're still getting credit for the entire title, even if users can't see all of it. To the world of commerce now.

[00:08:58] And the American trade regulator this week questioned Timu about Amazon's pricing policies, following reports that Amazon penalized merchants offering lower prices on Timu. This comes amid the FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, claiming the policies drive up prices for consumers. A recent study found that consumers are more forgiving of mistakes from black-owned and woman-owned businesses. Consumers view these businesses as underdogs facing unique challenges,

[00:09:27] which fosters empathy and understanding when issues like delayed deliveries or product defects happen. It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Amazon's first UK drone deliveries. The e-commerce giant announced it's taking the first steps to launch Prime Air in Darlington, England, working with the Civil Aviation Authority to get approval for flying drones in the area's airspace. And CVS Health is testing a new mobile app that unlocks display cabinets

[00:09:54] so customers can access products which have been placed behind lock and key. Some video news. DIY slime tutorials over SpongeBob SquarePants. YouTube is set to overtake traditional children's programming with cable networks like Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network losing more than half of their viewership in the last decade. While Gen Alpha still spends about an hour daily with Linear TV in 2025,

[00:10:24] eMarketer forecasts YouTube will surpass it by 2026. A few legal things to update you on. Amazon is being sued for allegedly collecting personal and location data via its Ads SDK without user consent. The suit claims the tech giant secretly tracked and sold California residents' sensitive data. Amazon has yet to respond. Meta said this week that it will pay U.S. President Donald Trump $25 million

[00:10:54] to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed over the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts following the Jan 6 Capitol riot. So far, we have not heard any news about how much Zuck will pay us for banning our podcast ad account from advertising. And Meta is challenging the EU Commission's $841 million antitrust penalty, which found the company breached European antitrust rules by integrating Facebook Marketplace into the app,

[00:11:22] giving it an unfair advantage over classified competitors. And a couple of random things from this past week to end us off. I'm sure you've heard by now, but there's a new AI in town. The Chinese-owned DeepSeq app came out of nowhere and rocketed to the top of the app stores, shocking the existing players and offering a free, open-source alternative to ChatGPT.

[00:11:48] It's also open-source, meaning anyone can use it and modify its code. And it's free to use. Benchmark tests show it performs similarly to OpenAI's O1 model in areas like logical reasoning and problem solving. And finally, do you want to silence those Google AI overviews? Turns out the secret is to swear at it. Ars Technica today reported that if you search Google for a way to disable AI-driven search results, you'll likely get an AI overview saying it can't be turned off.

[00:12:17] But if you search how to turn off fucking Google AI results, you'll get the usual web suggestions without any AI overview at the top. Those were the top digital marketing stories over the last five days. You'd have gotten all of this news earlier if you were signed up to our email newsletter, which comes out every weekday at 5 p.m. Eastern and is completely free.

[00:12:44] You can sign up at todayindigital.com slash newsletter. Tuesday, on our weekly deep dive episode, Todd will speak to the co-author of a new marketing science paper that proposes a new metric for influencer marketing. His paper's PE score measures how well a product is integrated into videos and its potential impact on sales. They'll talk about how this new metric works and the emotional factors that drive viewer interaction. Follow us on social media.

[00:13:13] We're on Blue Sky, Mastodon, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Go to todayindigital.com slash social or tap the link in the show notes. I'm Steph Gunn. It was a pleasure to sit in the hot seat. Don't forget to follow us on bluesky at todayindigital.com. Thanks for listening. Have a restful weekend. The next newsletter is out Monday and Todd will be back in your podcast feed Tuesday. Stay.