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Is Instagram Reels getting its own app?

Plus: Streaming TV ad rates keep falling. Thank Amazon.

Today’s Social Media advertising rates are short and sweet:

↗️ META: $7.68 CPM | ↗️ TIKTOK: $3.80 CPM | ↘️ SNAPCHAT: $6.87 CPM

In this week’s edition: 

  • 💼 Are These 5 LinkedIn Ad Mistakes Costing You?

  • Streaming TV ad rates keep falling. Thank Amazon. 📺

  • 🚸 New COPPA rules and what advertisers need to know

But first…

🎞️  Is Instagram Reels Getting Its Own App?

According to an Instagram insider quoted by The Information, IG chief Adam Mosseri recently told staff they’re considering launching a stand-alone app for Reels. While this move could weaken the main Instagram app, a dedicated Reels platform could appeal to users looking for a direct TikTok alternative—especially as TikTok leans into longer-form video. (Speaking of which: Reminder that Reels can now be up to three minutes in length.) Could this shift impact your short-form video strategy? You betcha. Stay tuned. 

💬 Until then, check this out: Instagram is rolling out text-only creator testimonials in the form of sponsored comments within a partnership post. This new format will appear as a “Sponsored” comment in the post comments.

  • Limit of 125 characters

  • Limit of 1 testimonial comment per partnership post

🎧 YouTube claims it now has over 1 billion monthly active podcast viewers, which would make it—by an order of magnitude—the world’s most-used podcast platform. While Spotify and Apple Podcasts have long dominated the audio space, YouTube’s video-first approach is drawing a larger, younger audience. By comparison, in 2023 Spotify reported having 100 million regular podcast users.

Why we care: According to Google, last year users watched over 400 million hours of podcasts each month on living-room devices alone. YouTube’s dominance could shift how advertisers think about podcast “listening” habits, ad units, and reach. As podcast consumption evolves, marketers should consider how video elements can expand reach and engagement.

⚠️ Beware, search copywriters: Google’s AI might now rearrange Responsive Search Ad headlines, descriptions, and assets dynamically to improve performance.

  • Google may omit certain content, like descriptions, if doing so leads to better engagement.

  • Headlines that weren’t used in RSAs can now appear as sitelinks if they’re predicted to boost performance.

  • Up to two RSA headlines may serve in the space previously reserved for sitelinks, linking to the final URL.

  • Google said it remains committed to maintaining asset relevance and respecting pinned elements within ads.

📺 CTV: Ad rates for streaming TV have been steadily dropping, and Amazon might be the reason why. Since Prime Video’s ad-supported tier started rolling out, competition in the space is increasing—and prices are adjusting accordingly. Digiday has the details, but this infographic sums up the TL;DR:

💼 LinkedIn Ads can be a powerful tool—if used correctly. Avoid common pitfalls like targeting by age (LinkedIn has to guess at its age data), enabling audience expansion without proper adjustments, and neglecting to optimize the LinkedIn Audience Network. These missteps can drain your budget without delivering results. Check out this handy list of 5 common LinkedIn Ads mistakes from SearchEngineLand to fine-tune your campaigns for better ROI. 

🚸 The Federal Traded Commission (FTC) has finalized an update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and advertisers need to pay attention. The new rules require verifiable parental consent before companies can serve targeted ads to kids. While that may sound straightforward, navigating compliance could be anything but. If your campaigns reach younger audiences, now’s the time to assess your approach. Dig into the details with a privacy expert interviewed for Digiday’s podcast. 

🔥 This Week’s Pro Tips: 

  • ♾️ Are you looking for a Meta helper Chrome Extension that turns off multiple Advantage+ creative optimizations with one click, retrieves post IDs, imports preview links straight into Google Sheets, and bulk copies ad IDs and names? Get it here and learn more here.

  • Starting 3/6, TikTok’s Product Sales and Website Conversions will be combined into one objective: Sales. Blocklisting is available by request.

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

Netflix is now expected to launch its long-awaited ad-tech platform in time for the April up-fronts. Which means: they’re probably going to have some job openings. Which means: we’re daydreaming about this very important issue…

Which fictional character would make the best CTV ad exec?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

📊 Last edition’s poll results: Which platform will benefit most from TikTok's decline?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Instagram 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ WhatsApp 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Snapchat 

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Bluesky

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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