by Tod Maffin and Steph Gunn
Today's News
Please note that due to tomorrow's U.S. election (a slow news day for marketing), we won't be publishing a newsletter issue or podcast episode. We'll return to our regular programming on Wednesday, November 6th.
Brands Pivot as Election Ad Spend Surges
When political dollars flood the ad market, brands pay the price—literally.
With final votes in the U.S. election being cast tomorrow, a spike in political ad spend has caused CPMs on major channels like TV, Facebook, and Instagram to soar, forcing advertisers to seek alternatives.
Brands Find New Strategies
Ad prices for some brands on Facebook and Instagram tripled in the election's final weeks as candidates poured in millions to reach voters.
TV ad costs also surged in swing states, pushing some brands to target areas with less political competition.
To dodge rising prices, some advertisers shifted budgets to Amazon, which they say is a more stable option when costs get too high elsewhere.
Others, such as a home fitness brand that mainly advertises on connected TV, remained on competitive ad channels but adjusted their messaging to break through the political noise.
Threads’ Hits 275M Users, Rivaling X
Although their ‘cage match' may never have happened, Mark Zuckerberg may soon metaphorically take down Elon Musk in the battle of social media platforms.
Zuckerberg recently announced that Threads, Meta's challenger to X, now has almost 275 million monthly active users.
From 0 to 275M
Launched just nine months ago, Threads started strong, attracting around 8.3 million new users each month. Recently, however, its growth has exploded, adding 100 million users in just three months—more than tripling its growth rate.
This surge comes at a time when user engagement is waning on X.
The social media smackdown
With a daily growth rate of 1 million new sign-ups, Threads could potentially surpass X’s monthly active user count by next June if the momentum continues.
Amazon’s Ad Sales Outshine Overall Growth
Amazon's ad business is thriving.
The company last week reported its third-quarter results, with its ad business growing faster than its overall sales.
Big gains across the board
Ad revenue hit $14.3 billion, up nearly 20% from last year, making up nearly 9% of Amazon’s total sales.
In comparison, Amazon’s overall net sales rose 11% to $159 billion.
Q4 plans
Amazon is projecting a big holiday sales season and said it will continue to invest heavily in generative AI.
Looking ahead, the e-commerce giant plans to hire 250,000 additional employees for the holiday season and projects sales could past $188 billion in the fourth quarter.
YouTube Gives Brands All-Inclusive Content View
YouTube is giving brands a clearer picture of content performance by updating the “Content” tab in YouTube Studio.
The new layout organizes all content types—videos, Shorts, Live, and Playlists—into dedicated shelves within Studio’s mobile app, to track performance by format.
A “View all” option will be available on each content shelf, letting users see a list view of each format.
A “Scheduled” filter will also be available if a creator has content scheduled.
This revised layout will roll out to all creators over the next few weeks.
New Comments tab
YouTube is also updating the “Comments” tab, which is being renamed “Community”. The new tab will feature an overview of audience metrics, including comment counts and stats on returning viewers.
It's also adding a “Community Spotlight” feature which will highlight some of the most engaged viewers.
Other updates
YouTube is also expanding AI-generated content summaries on select English videos. These summaries offer an additional description to help users find relevant content, without replacing creator-generated descriptions.
The platform is also testing out a new, interactive chatbot within YouTube Studio (on desktop) to help creators understand how each feature works.
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LinkedIn: Adds Lead Gen for Boosted Posts, Boots Animations
A couple of updates from the professional network.
Lead Generation for boosted posts
First, LinkedIn is rolling out a Lead Generation objective for boosted posts.
Advertisers can now select “Lead Generation” as their goal when boosting a post directly from their feed. Previously, the only available objectives were reach and engagement.
With this update, the ad setup allows for budget and targeting options, plus the addition of a lead form template tied to the campaign.
However, keep in mind that while boosting posts offers convenience, it comes with more limited targeting capabilities compared to LinkedIn’s full Campaign Manager.
The company says the boosting feature is now available globally.
Goodbye, animated celebrations
In other news, LinkedIn is saying goodbye to some of its celebratory post templates. These are the post types that include animated graphics.
Almost all of them are being retired, leaving only the confetti template to carry the torch.
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