‘The ad free internet’
This week The Economist put out a really interesting article relating to how advertisers are changing their online spending habits now that social media regulations are tightening, and what that shift looks like ahead of 2024. The piece itself is behind a paywall, however there were some interesting thoughts for digital marketers I wanted to share.
Firstly, I was amazed to find out this week that Amazon made $45 billion from ads this year. That itself doesn’t sound so remarkable, but the amazing bit is that this was more than the entire newspaper industry combined. Indeed, they’ve been running ads for a decade and are an obvious place for consumer-facing businesses to run ads, but are indicative of a wider trend for advertisers to look for new opportunities.
Other emerging opportunities include ad networks for in-room TVs and airlines showing personalised ads during in-flight entertainment, which all sounds a little bit like something out Minority Report. For the moment this is the preserve of bigger budget advertisers, but nevertheless is something to keep in mind – less obvious channels offer some great awareness opportunities.
With social networks increasingly looking to diversify revenue streams outside of advertising (just this week Snapchat+ announced some impressive growth, with $20 million revenue in November, while other social channels have launched ad free versions), it’s fairly safe to say that the digital advertising landscape is going to look very different in five years time to how it looked five years ago.
Twitter/X tries a different tact
Having reportedly scared off the majority of its big-ticket advertisers, Twitter/X is now focussing on attracting smaller advertisers to the platform. It is now also exploring partnerships with other ad platforms, including talks with Amazon to use its ad-buying software.
This move is seen as a strategy to lure small and mid-sized businesses, a pivot from the platform’s traditional reliance on larger brands. As the platform opens up to smaller advertisers, it is likely to offer more accessible and possibly more cost-effective advertising options compared to its previous focus on bigger brands.
Personally, I would steer clear of the platform until there is more stability; it feels like every week there is a potentially harmful major controversy and, as mentioned previously, even prior to Elon Musk’s ownership Twitter never really delivered the same ROI (in my experience) as other platforms. Which brings me nicely to…
Threads launching in the EU
Threads, Meta’s answer to Twitter, is set to finally launch in the EU this week. This is a significant step in the platform’s expansion, aiming to catch people while they’re scrolling their way through the holiday season.
While Threads has been available in the UK for a while, its continued expansion is a strong indicator that Meta is committed to its success, and that it might not be the flash in the pan some have dismissed it to be.
In terms of what that means for your brand, as with any channel, you should only be on there if you feel it helps you solve a problem or connect with new audiences. Most of the brands doing Threads well are already well-establish goliaths, but that doesn’t mean you should be put off. Using it in a similar way to Twitter (regular updates about the great stuff your business is up to) could well yield dividends; but I wouldn’t be betting the house on it just yet.
Further reading:
WhatsApp is rolling out pinned messages, a boon to well-meaning people who find their messages about scheduling social events are buried by non-stop ‘bantz’.
And finally, after last week’s bumper week of AI announcements, this week Google admitted an AI viral video was edited to look better, a great example of the importance of transparency in relation to how we’re using AI. Otherwise the EU agreed a ‘historic’ deal to regulate AI.
That’s it for me in 2023, and I’ll be taking a break from this newsletter for a few weeks.
If you’re feeling particularly generous at this festive time of year and have enjoyed this newsletter, then you’re of course very welcome to buy me a coffee or, alternatively, I would really appreciate any recommendations of this newsletter to your friends and peers.
Otherwise, I hope you have a great holiday season, and I’ll be back in January!