What young professionals fear, according to LinkedIn

Today’s Social Media advertising rates are attending a secret screening in Telluride:

↘️ META: $10.12 | ↘️ TIKTOK: $2.04 | ↗️ SNAPCHAT: $18.98

In this week’s edition: 

• 🔊 Everyone listens to women’s sports (on Spotify)

• What young professionals fear, according to LinkedIn 💼

• 📌 Data: What are men are doing on Pinterest?

But first…

🎯 TikTok nukes teen targeting

The fallout from Meta’s multibillion dollar settlement continues to reverberate through the digital-ads ecosystem. This week, TikTok said it was responding to global regulations around teen safety by making some big changes to its restrictions around age targeting. Here’s what to know: 

• TikTok raised the minimum age for boosting from 16+ to 18+, meaning posts from an account holder registered as 16 years old can no longer be boosted.

• More broadly, the platform now defaults to 18+ ad targeting and doesn’t serve personalized ads to users under 18; in the EEA and UK, additional restrictions are anticipated. 

• TikTok is now advising advertisers to work only with creators/accounts that are 18+ for any content intended for paid distribution.

The Inside Scoop🍦: Now trending in performance media

🔎 Google Ads is ruling out AI-powered Dashboards to some accounts. These let advertisers create visual performance reports using simple, conversational text prompts.

🤖 Speaking of AI, Google is expanding AI Mode to support traditional Search campaigns using exact and phrase match keywords. This means that advertisers may not need PMax or AI Max to gain visibility in Google's AI-powered search experience.

• Note: Google is still positioning AI Max and Performance Max for Search as the products designed to capture more complex, conversational searches.

• Caveat: this is a small experiment, and Google hasn’t said how broadly the test is running or whether it will become a permanent feature.

⏰ TikTok announced a new multi-year agreement with the NFL to expand the football league’s presence on the platform and offer new engagement and interaction features for fans. As part of the deal, TikTok will add new NFL game day hubs powered by the platform’s GamePlan sports partnership offering, which lets sports leagues build their presence in the app.

🔊 Spotify released new guidance on Sports Fandom on the platform, highlighting that “fandom doesn’t stop when the final whistle blows.” Fans continue engaging throughout the entire week through recap podcasts, analysis, debate, music, and anticipation for what’s next. Among the insights:

• Women's sports fandom is growing quickly on Spotify, with women's sports podcast streams up 29% YoY.

• Video is also becoming a major part of sports consumption: 92% of U.S. sports-fan podcast listeners watch video podcasts on Spotify, with 1.4B sports-fan video podcast streams in the first half of 2026.

💼 LinkedIn is sharing new data on young professions on the platform. According to new research, 72% are staying on the sidelines of their professional community and it's costing them valuable advice, introductions and opportunities. Fear is often the barrier. Our top three takeaways: 

• 9 in 10 marketers agreed that future growth depends on influencing younger decision-makers.

• 42% of respondents said that content from expert voices is the most effective way to connect.

• Gen Z buyers are most likely to engage with short-form and immersive videos (49%), as well as with content from expert voices (42%).

👽 Reddit has released the news we’ve all been waiting for: Reddit Max campaigns (the platform’s AI-enabled product to automate targeting, creative selection, placements, and budget allocation) are now available to all advertisers. Reddit also announced three product updates to Max campaigns:

• We are (finally!) getting the ability to have multiple asset groups within a single campaign to support different lines of business.

• Reddit’s Advertising API now supports Max campaigns, enabling advertisers to create and manage them through supported third-party tools and workflows.

• Advertisers can create, scale, and manage campaigns directly through Smartly.

💯 You might ask: how do we know these Reddit Max campaigns work? We’ll point you to the example Reddit gives in its official announcement, in which everyone’s favorite agency gave it a thumbs up: 

Musical instrument manufacturer Fender leaned into Max campaigns during Black Friday shopping to reach new customers and drive efficient traffic to its site. Working with Gupta Media, Fender used a mix of banners, artist imagery, product shots, and video, while Max campaign’s AI helped match creative formats and messaging with relevant communities. The campaign delivered 148% ROAS, with CTR 126% higher than benchmark and CPC 46% more efficient than a standard campaign.

📌 Pinterest has updated the names of several campaign objectives in Ads Manager to make it easier for advertisers to understand which options align with their goals.

• The update is only a terminology change, and won’t result in any changes to campaign performance or ramp-up times.

• Existing Conversions and Catalog Sales campaigns will remain editable until April 30, 2027, after which they will be archived.

🛒 The platform also just released new best-practices guidance to help advertisers build, launch, and optimize shopping campaigns on Pinterest. Our top takeaways:

• Connect product catalogs and implement the Pinterest Tag to keep inventory synced and accurately track conversions.

• Use Pinterest Trends to anticipate seasonal demand and identify rising shopping trends early.

• Performance+ can automate targeting, bidding, and creative delivery with up to 50% fewer operational inputs.

• Use dynamic retargeting, local inventory ads, and promotions to expand lower-funnel reach. Adding promotions to shopping campaigns has resulted in an 18% increase in conversions.

🧐 What are the boys up to on Pinterest these days? Funny you should ask: Pinterest’s Men’s Trend Report 2026 shares all the insights you need. According to Pinterest, men are showing up intentionally to build rituals and community. Some key search themes are analog hobbies, hosting essentials, and wellness systems. The headlines:

• “Gen Z men are leading the shift: their searches on Pinterest have increased 17% year over year, and they now account for more than 62% of male monthly searches.” 

• “Interest in “hosting aesthetic” is up 160%, as men seek easy, repeatable hangs, like watch parties and game nights, that make the home a low-lift place to gather.” 

• “Pinterest trend signals show growing interest in “offline hobbies” (+551%) and “no phone ideas” (+581%), hands-on at-home projects and everyday systems that support self-presentation in grooming habits and styling.”

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

In the meantime, stay up to date with the latest performance marketing intelligence by following us on Linkedin, Instagram, and X.

This week’s edition of the Thread was created by Jess Dashner, Anoushka Madan, Kayleigh McDonald, Kiara Quigley, Lara Spijkerman, Liana Giacobbe, Mariya Samardzhieva, and Carly Carioli.