Instagram's new cheat code: connection

Today’s Social Media advertising rates are midwestern nice:

↘️ YOUTUBE: $1.69 CPM | ↗️ META: $7.46 CPM | ↘️ TIKTOK: $4.13 CPM

In this week’s edition: 

• 🤝 Connection is Instagram’s new cheat code

• YouTube solves the most annoying thing about live-stream ads 😜

• ⁉️ If you’re not on why?!, why not?

But first…

💸 Google’s monopoly decision, explained

TL;DR: We wrote a longer take on the implications of the Google decision on our other newsletter The Arbiter, which you should also subscribe to. The short version? Google isn’t broken up, yet: The penalty phase of the case is yet to come. In the landmark 286-page ruling handed down this week, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta had some basic questions to answer, and here’s how that went. 

• Does Google have a monopoly in search? Yes. 

• Does Google have a monopoly in search advertising: No, too broad. Ask again. 

• How about those text ads on search results pages? Yes, Google has a monopoly on those. 

• Did Google profit from its monopolies? Yep, big time. 

• Did Google do sketchy things to maintain its monopoly? Yes, it paid tens of billions of dollars to companies like Apple and Verizon to keep other search engines from gaining market share.

• Did Google systematically destroy evidence in the case? The Judge decided not to answer that question, but said “the court is taken aback by the lengths to which Google goes to avoid creating a paper trail for regulators and litigants.” 💀

The Inside Scoop🍦: Now trending in performance media

🐦 Twitter/X is not waiting around to get sued for antitrust violations. Instead, it is suing other people for antitrust violations. This week, X filed suit against its former advertisers, alleging that those advertisers are colluding “by withholding purchases of digital advertising from Twitter.”

Meanwhile, UK politicians are threatening to haul Elon Musk before Parliament for questioning over X’s role in spreading disinformation that inflamed race riots across England in recent weeks. Musk also angered British officials with his own Tweets, including one that declared “civil war is inevitable,” and another since-deleted re-tweet in which Musk amplified a fake news post claiming that the Prime Minister planned to deport far-right protesters to the Falkland Islands.

🔎 Google: This may be an appropriate moment to mention that if you’re running ads via Google—but don’t want your ads to appear on X—you need to opt out of X as a placement. Through a partnership announced last fall, Google ads are appearing in X’s main feed—and according to MarketingBrew, some advertisers have been surprised to find their ads on X.

Coming Soon: Google announced this week it will transition the functionality of Smart Campaign into Performance Max campaigns in the coming months.

📺 Evvvvverybody wants in on Connected TV these days. Self-serve platforms are making it easier to buy in, and advances in audience targeting are making it attractive even for B2B marketers. (Speaking of which: Can y’all please ease up on the YouTubeTV B2B campaigns? We have seen your ads, OK?!) 

But the biggest question we get from clients is: How do you measure post-click actions after people view the ads? That’s now the industry’s $20 billion question — and the answers are all over the place. Gupta Media Analyst Cecilia Marchini surveyed the major platforms — Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and NBCU — to get the details you need. Check out her Guide to CTV Measurement, new this week on GuptaMedia.com.

🎥 YouTube is experimenting with Picture in Picture for live mid-rolls, allowing live-streamers to run ads without disrupting the action. Some viewers on select devices will begin to see the new ad format in the coming months. 

• Our take: picture-in-picture may not be as effective as full-screen ads, but they'll likely be less annoying, giving advertisers the opportunity to connect with live-stream audiences in the way they want to be reached.

🕰️ TikTok is offering “new music” packages that include one branded post each from 3-to-5 creators, with music licensing of one newly-released major label song to be used across all creator package assets.

⭕ Reddit saw solid user growth in Q2, adding 8.5 million more daily active users (DAUs) since Q1, including 4 million in the US, where other social platforms haven’t seen such significant growth. Keep in mind that Reddit’s users still seem to be checking the app less regularly throughout the week than they do with competitors like Instagram and TikTok.

🤝 Instagram’s new focus is connection. On the heels of its latest algorithm shift to rewarding highly-shareable content, Instagram is doubling down on driving connections between mutuals—users who follow one another—through the latest Reels update. In the Reels tab, some users are able to filter their Reels feeds by Notes, allowing them to view Reels that their mutuals have created with Notes. On the surface, it seems like this update is the platform's attempt to boost adoption of their newest feature rollout. However, like Broadcast channels and DMs, Notes is an engagement hub for users, particularly younger users. 

• Why we care: The way users engage with Instagram has changed dramatically in the last two years, helped along by IG’s algorithm changes. This latest focus by the platform on encouraging private engagements between users reinforces the need for brands to create content worthy of sharing in order to be a part of those private conversations.

⁉️ Why?! In an attempt to combat the "loneliness epidemic" created by the current roster of social platforms, former Clubhouse employees Maya Watson and Lexi Nisita created why?!, a new platform that's part messaging app, part networking app, and part dating app. While currently in private beta, Watson and Nisita are looking to launch this fall.

• Our take: Even though why?! attempts to address an undeniable issue created by the most prevalent social platforms, it has an uphill battle to draw attention to its platform in an already crowded social environment.

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

We’re still waiting on the official medal count, but the winner of the Olympics is clearly Snoop Dogg, who is having the greatest games of any American in recent memory. Judges, please submit your scorecards:

📊 Last week’s poll results: 

Which Meta AI celebrity chatbot had the cringiest name?

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Dungeon Master (Snoop Dogg) 

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Bru (Tom Brady) 

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Billie (Kendall Jenner) 

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Coco (Charli D’Amelio) 

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Amber (Paris Hilton)

🏆 Pick of the Week: The Elephant is loose!

You heard us: the Gupta Media merch store is open for business. The swag in this office is legendary. Now you, too, can own the essential tools in our analysts’ arsenal—from Stanley tumblers and Yeti cocktail shakers to shirts, joggers, beach towels, and custom-embroidered Stio fleece.

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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