Here's what Threads ads will look like

Today’s Social Media advertising rates are back to school—and by popular demand, we’re adding Snapchat to the mix!

↘️ YOUTUBE: $1.79 CPM | ↗️ META: $7.84 CPM | ↘️ TIKTOK: $4.01 CPM | ↗️ SNAPCHAT: $10.01 CPM

In this week’s edition: 

• 🐱 TikTok’s algorithm shift, in cats and dogs 

• Are you using this Instagram x Spotify collab? 🎸

• 🧵 First looks: Threads ads! Vertical IG grid!

But first…

🔎 Google’s Ongoing Trials, Explained

Yes, there is yet another monopoly trial involving Google—this one even more laser-focused on Google’s advertising business. This fall, you’re going to need a scorecard to keep track of all the people who are suing Google. The TL;DR: 

Monopoly I: Google already lost its first big trial with the Department of Justice, with a Federal judge finding that Google holds a monopoly in search. The question remains: What will the government do about it? Under consideration, according to the New York Times: Breaking off parts of Google such as Chrome or Android; “forcing Google to make its data available to rivals”; and/or banning Google’s exclusive distribution deals with partners like Apple. The “remedy” phase of that proceeding kicks off September 6. 

Monopoly II: This will be one that drives the news this month. The Justice Department is suing Google again, this time seeking to answer the question of whether Google used its dominant position to cement a monopoly in ad tech services for publishers. While much of the charge centers on Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick and other ad-tech platforms years ago, there’s still plenty of resonance for advertisers today.

The trial begins next week—with a witness list said to include a “who’s who” of the advertising world—but pre-trial motions are already making headlines: 

• The judge overseeing the case described one Google memo as containing “smoking guns”—evidence that could show Google implemented policies to destroy internal communications that were potentially incriminating. 

• Meanwhile, AdWeek sorted through the court filings to find evidence of a longstanding Google policy of offering hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to agencies that agreed to buy its media.

Yelp v. Google: Citing the first Justice Department ruling, Yelp filed suit against Google last week, alleging that Google used underhanded methods to ruin localized search results.

The Inside Scoop🍦: Now trending in performance media

🕰️ TikTok has changed how it defines interest targeting in the algorithm, which may impact your performance. The change took effect on August 19, narrowing the potential reach of each interest. Here’s TikTok on what, exactly, changed: 

• Old model: “Mary engaged with a cat video. Mary likes cats. We predict Mary likes dogs too.”

• New model: “Mary engaged with a cat video. Mary likes cats. Just cats.”

💡 Our take: This change means TikTok’s targeting is getting more precise — which is good. That also means scale will go down as those audience sizes get smaller. (Overall, we believe it’s better to reach fewer people if our ads are more relevant to them—and add additional targeting when we need to scale.) We find it interesting that TikTok is moving in essentially the opposite direction of Meta, which has been consolidating interest groups into larger pools—and has blurred the definition of how people get classified under an interest group. The current state of social targeting is Meta pushing in the direction of broader interests—or even no interests at all—versus TikTok adding a greater ability to target more narrowly defined interests. 

🤳Also this week, TikTok has also rolled out two types of Messaging Ads:

• Direct Messaging Ads keep users in the TikTok app and use TikTok's direct messaging feature to let them chat with advertisers.

• Instant Messaging Ads redirect users outside of TikTok to chat with advertisers using a third-party messaging app, such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.

🥕 On the Organic Social front, TikTok is incentivizing creators on the platform with referral bonuses. The platform is handing out Amazon gift cards as a reward for referring prominent creators from competing platforms like YouTube and Instagram. This newest incentive comes on the heels of reports that TikTok’s growth has plateaued, if not declined, in some regions.

📽️ Amazon Prime Video: Big changes are coming to the way Amazon offers access to its Prime Video Ads, starting October 1. 

• Prime Video Premiere is Prime Video’s most premium content. It’s the only way to deliver 100% of your ads on Prime Video and get access to Amazon Originals. 

• Streaming TV Plus will run against Prime video catalog titles, Freevee, Twitch, Fire TV Channels, and Amazon Publisher Direct content. 

For brands with a larger budget, APV Sponsorships unlock a 25% to 50% share of voice with a minimum spend in the low seven figures. For 100% share of voice and “custom ad options,” expect a minimum spend in the mid-seven figures.

📸 As Instagram seeks to compete with TikTok’s position as a music discovery platform, the platform is testing a new integration with Spotify that lets Instagram users display the track they’re listening to at any given time via their IG Notes indicator:

Meanwhile, Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed that Instagram is testing a vertical profile grid during one of his recent Ask Me Anything sessions. One Threads user spotted it the wild:

🧵 Threads hasn’t rolled out advertising yet, but we do have an early preview of what Threads Ads will look like. Behold!

🧠 Perplexity, the Jeff Bezos-backed AI search engine that is positioning itself as an alternative to Google, announced it is launching ads in Q4.

🔗 LinkedIn is rolling out a new in-feed format: video carousels. The format is raising eyebrows from marketers who still remember that the same platform retired static image carousels late last year. As carousels continue to generate engagement on other platforms, is this new LinkedIn format an attempt to capitalize on learnings from others’ success?

📽️ YouTube is testing longer CTV ad breaks to provide longer uninterrupted viewing sessions based on testing that showed 79% of viewers prefer grouped video ads over shorter, dispersed slots. (This comes on the heels of Nielsen’s reporting that in July, YouTube became the first streaming platform to account for 10% of all TV viewing.)

• What’s new: The new test clusters ads into blocks that display a countdown timer. Viewers can skip to the next ad in the block after 5 seconds. While this move should appeal to viewers, it could hurt advertisers whose ads are getting ignored during a long block—we recommend keeping an eye out for changes in your YouTube CTV metrics.

On the targeting front, Google is now allowing advertisers to create retargeting lists based on viewers of specific YouTube creator videos. Creators still need to give permission. But previously, they would have needed to connect their entire YouTube channel.

🐘The Elephant In the Room: Our weekly office poll!

🔥 While the Gen-Xers on staff are off in a corner ranking their favorite Liam and Noel memes, the hot topic in the group chat between our social and creative teams this week: Is “demure” the millennial response to “brat”?

(You tell us, but we’ll tell you something: Bad day to be a young person standing between a Gen-X’r and an Oasis ticket.)

📊 Last edition’s poll results: What should we call YouTube’s longer shorts?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Bermudas 

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Slongs

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Jorts

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Mediums

Thanks for reading! We’ll be back next week to fill your inbox with more tips, tricks, and treats from the addressable universe.

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