Tinuiti

Media Update: Social Commerce Movement, AI Advancements, Tariff Impact on Consumer Prices

Alyssa Kelmenson — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 18:14:22 +0000

Paid Media Updates

Media Update: Social Commerce Movement, AI Advancements, Tariff Impact on Consumer Prices

By Tinuiti Innovation & Growth Team

Feb 06 2025

Key Highlights

TV & Audio: Nielsen won MRC approval for its Big Data + Panel measurement product, bolstering the company in the face of competition from new digital-native players.
Paid Social: In the wake of TikTok’s 14-hour shutdown, new research confirms the Social Commerce movement is here. Threads surpasses 300M MAU and begins testing ads with early engagement outpacing X.
Display & Programmatic: The Trade Desk enters the M&A space for the second time ever, announcing the acquisition of ad tech metadata company Sincera.
Search: Continued advancements in AI reasoning models are upleveling search results.
Ad Economy: SEO may not be dead exactly, but it’s becoming unrecognizable from what it once was.
Consumer Economy: Holiday shopping outlays increased by almost 4% YoY, underpinned by strong GDP growth and significant progress on the inflation front.

TV & Audio

Harry Browne VP Innovation

While entertainment audiences remained depressed year-over-year, other areas of linear have seen recent spikes. News and, to a lesser extent, broadcast viewership have seen some gains as coverage of the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term has dominated headlines. Sports viewership boomed in the week of the 20th, spurred by a record audience for the Bills – Chiefs AFC Championship.

1. Frequent readers of this space (or even those with minimal experience in TV) will be very familiar with Nielsen. The measurement company has long been considered a gold-standard source of audience data – its data powers the chart above, and its Gauge has been a key resource for tracking the overall share gains of new and emerging streamers. Nielsen’s flagship offering has always been its panel data, which tracks the viewership behavior of over 40K households and has long been a primary currency of linear TV buying. However, in the face of competition from digital-native players like iSpot, Comscore, and VideoAmp, Nielsen is evolving its approach and leaning in on “big data”. Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel tool, which received approval from the Media Rating Council to be used as a buying currency, dramatically expands Nielsen’s data pool, incorporating information from 45 million households through set-top boxes and smart TVs. Soon after, Nielsen announced that it would deprecate its panel-only measurement by the end of 2025, solidifying its embrace of digitally-powered measurement.

The measurement giant clearly hopes that this shift will help preserve its advantage in the TV measurement space; while Nielsen remains the dominant player, a majority of advertisers are interested in exploring alternatives, and several major publishers have begun leveraging Nielsen’s competitors as alternative currencies. In fact, Nielsen had been in an extended standoff with Paramount over the past few months, with Paramount pushing back against the high prices Nielsen charged and leaning towards VideoAmp as an alternative partner. Shortly after Big Data + Panel was accredited by the MRC, Paramount and Nielsen renewed their agreement.

Overall, this development should help preserve Nielsen’s position, at least for the time being. For Tinuiti advertisers, expect trading to begin to shift towards the expanded data set as the year goes on. Nielsen expects this data to be more accurate, with figures 4-5% higher than panel-only counts, and more consistent with traditional Nielsen metrics than tracking from other competitors. In all, this should mean better, more consistent, more holistic measurement for the TV space. | eMarketer, AdAge

Jack Johnston Senior Director Innovation

1. A new report from TikTok and IPSOS dropped this week, and it confirms what many advertisers have already been seeing—TikTok is more than just a discovery platform, it’s becoming a full-funnel commerce engine. The study found that 61% of TikTok users discover new brands on the platform, and nearly 50% have made a purchase directly from an ad or shoppable post. If you’re not already thinking about TikTok as a core sales driver, now is the time to rethink your strategy.

The report highlights TikTok’s unique ability to blend authenticity, community engagement, and personalized recommendations into a seamless shopping experience. With 73% of users saying TikTok provides better product recommendations than other platforms, the algorithm is doing the heavy lifting for advertisers. Even more compelling? 79% of users say they trust creator-led recommendations, making TikTok the go-to platform for turning brand awareness into actual conversions. Brands that embrace TikTok-native content formats—whether through creator collaborations, user-generated content, or interactive “shoppertainment” campaigns—are seeing 2.4x higher engagement than those running traditional ads.

The playbook for TikTok is continuing to shift: it’s no longer just about viral reach, but driving real business outcomes. In the wake of TikTok’s 14-hour shutdown, advertisers are moving beyond experimentation and are now focused on scaling. Brands that integrate TikTok shopping features including TikTok Shop, lean into creator partnerships, and craft engaging, commerce-driven content look likely to win in this new era. Social commerce isn’t on the horizon — it’s already here. | IPSOS

2. Meta’s Threads platform has reached a significant milestone, surpassing 300 million monthly active users. Not surprisingly, advertisers received welcome news in Meta’s announcement that it has initiated a test phase for ads on Threads. Currently, a select group of advertisers in the U.S. and Japan are participating in this trial, with image-based ads appearing in users’ home feeds. Meta plans to monitor user feedback and engagement closely before a broader rollout.

The introduction of ads on Threads offers a fresh avenue to engage a rapidly growing audience. Given that three out of four Threads users already follow at least one business, the platform presents a fertile ground for brand engagement. Advertisers can seamlessly extend their existing Meta campaigns to include Threads, ensuring consistent messaging across platforms. As Meta continues to refine the advertising experience on Threads, it is expected that more brands will slowly be getting access to ads on the platform over the coming months, although Meta has stated that it plans to limit inventory so as to prioritize the user experience. | SocialMediaToday, Reuters, SocialMediaToday, Search Engine Land

Display & Programmatic

Brian Binder Senior Director Innovation

Mergers and acquisitions continue to make headlines, with The Trade Desk announcing a surprising yet strategic move to acquire Sincera, a leader in ad tech metadata. Known for building rather than buying, The Trade Desk’s decision reinforces its commitment to cleaning up the programmatic supply chain.

Sincera’s advanced web crawler analyzes how publishers implement and utilize advertising technology, offering insights into details such as ad configurations, privacy practices, and the use of universal identifiers like UID2.0.

As an initial investor in Sincera, the two have been collaborating for a few years. In fact, Sincera’s data played a key role in developing The Trade Desk’s SP500+ list last year, highlighting top-tier publishers based on ad transparency and quality. The two also partnered on made-for-advertising (MFA) detection, identifying publishers using subdomains with low-quality content to generate programmatic revenue from third-party traffic.

MFA sites are one of digital advertising’s biggest problems, diluting ad effectiveness and wasting ad spend. In response, the industry is shifting from the open exchange to curated marketplaces and private deals. According to eMarketer, this trend is accelerating, with private marketplace deals now accounting for 67% of display ad spending.

For advertisers, this merger could bring much-needed transparency to programmatic buys. While integration details are still emerging, advertisers will benefit from deeper insights into their media buys—examining ad environments, ad load, and refresh rates—allowing for more informed bidding and placement decisions. | The Trade Desk, The Trade Desk, AdExchanger, EMARKETER

Search

Michelle Merklin VP of Paid Search Growth & Innovation

Continued advancements in AI reasoning models are upleveling search results. Last week, both ChatGPT and Perplexity announced their technology is now powered by new advanced reasoning models (OpenAI o3-mini on ChatGPT, and DeepSeek R1 on Perplexity).

Perplexity, in particular, is taking an interesting approach that blends privacy safeguards with less censorship, layering in a tweaked version of DeepSeek R1. Perplexity’s open sourced model is hosted on secure servers based in the US and Europe, meaning that a Perplexity user’s data is not shared with the model provider or with China. This privacy-forward approach is likely very welcome news to AI enthusiasts who were spooked after a recent messy data leak from DeepSeek.

Graham Barlow, a senior editor focused on AI at Techradar, pitted ChatGPT’s 03-mini model vs. DeepSeek R1 to gauge how the results varied. “ChatGPT o3-mini is more concise in showing reasoning, and DeepSeek-R1 is more sprawling and verbose. If you really need to see the way the LLM arrived at the answer, then DeepSeek-R1’s approach feels like you’re getting the full reasoning service, while ChatGPT 03-mini feels like an overview in comparison,” according to Barlow.

The question remains: how will user behavior and expectations of search results continue to evolve as these developments continue? | OpenAI, Perplexity, Wiz Research, Techradar

Ad Economy

Simon Poulton EVP Innovation

For years, SEO has been a cornerstone of digital marketing, helping brands and publishers drive organic traffic through search rankings. Yet, claims that “SEO is dead” have persisted almost as long as the practice itself. While organic and paid search have historically been viewed as separate domains—akin to church and state—the search ecosystem is now experiencing tectonic shifts, and the line between these disciplines is becoming blurrier by the day.

The familiar refrain of “SEO is dead” echoes once again, but this time, there may be some truth to it. Or, perhaps, SEO isn’t dying—it’s evolving into something we don’t recognize. As AI-powered search advances, traditional SEO strategies are being upended, forcing marketers to rethink how they approach visibility in an AI-driven world.

The AI Search Disruption

Google’s recent AI Overviews update exemplifies how AI is reshaping search behavior. AI-generated summaries now surface answers directly in search results, reducing the need for users to click through to websites. This shift has led to significant traffic declines for publishers that historically relied on Google.

For instance, HubSpot reported a 50% drop in organic traffic year over year, despite following best SEO practices. AI-driven search results prioritize direct answers over traditional rankings, forcing marketers to reconsider their content strategies.

The Fragmentation of Search Behavior

It’s not just AI Overviews altering SEO—consumer search habits are becoming increasingly fragmented. Users now turn to TikTok, Reddit, Amazon, and even ChatGPT instead of Google for product recommendations and information. This diversification means businesses must look beyond Google’s algorithms and optimize content for multiple discovery platforms.

Advertisers are also adjusting. As organic search traffic declines, brands are reallocating budgets to paid search, influencer marketing, and social search to maintain visibility and engagement.

Google’s Response: The New SEO Playbook

Despite these shifts, Google insists SEO is evolving, not disappearing. The company advises marketers to optimize for AI Overviews by focusing on structured data, concise direct answers, and conversational content. This aligns with the broader trend of AI-driven content discovery, where search engines prioritize authoritative, succinct responses over traditional keyword-stuffed web pages.

Some SEO experts predict that traditional keyword-based strategies will lose effectiveness as AI search refines its ability to provide instant responses. This evolution places greater emphasis on brand authority, direct engagement, and diversified traffic sources rather than solely relying on Google rankings.While SEO isn’t dead, it is becoming something unrecognizable – and the only bridge for many will be to focus investment on advertising channels. In the era of AI search, the winners will be those who embrace a holistic approach to content and discovery, moving beyond traditional tactics to meet users where they are. | Digiday, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal

Consumer Economy

Sean Odlum CPO

1. The big news this week is, of course, tariffs – the Trump Administration on Tuesday implemented, via executive order, 10% across-the-board import duties on all goods from China, inclusive of heretofore exempt de minimis shipments under $800 in value. At the same time, the White House announced 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, though imposition of duties has been paused for 30 days in each case. As of this writing, prediction markets are forecasting a 42% chance that tariffs on Mexican goods will come into force by May 1st, and a 37% chance for the Canadian duties.

The first-order effect of the tariffs will be to reduce consumer welfare – the Yale Budget Lab estimates the average US household will lose ~$1,250 of purchasing power as a result of higher consumer prices. The product categories that are expected to see the largest price increases are computer, electronic and optical equipment; leather products; electrical equipment; motor vehicles and parts; and wearing apparel.

We can also expect significant effects on the world of ecommerce. First, as noted above, the new tariffs end the de minimis exemption that allows duty-free importation of parcels whose value is less than $800. This poses a major disruption to the business model of direct-from-China sellers, such as Shein and Temu, which have used the de minimis exemption extensively and succeeded largely on the basis of ultra-low prices. Beyond behemoths like Shein and Temu, countless smaller businesses are facing the same headache; the director of a bra brand said, “Our tariffs went from 0% to 52% overnight.” Second is the massive logistical disruption this poses; apart from paying import duties, the paperwork associated with documentation of zillions of small-package shipments is a daunting challenge. We also saw reports of USPS suspending inbound parcels from China and Hong Kong, though shipments now appear to have resumed. Third, the aforementioned Shein and Temu are some of the largest digital advertisers in the US; Temu was Meta’s top advertiser in 2023, and one of Google’s top five, while Shein has also spent very heavily on these platforms. To the extent the new regulations impair their businesses in the US, one would expect reductions in Meta and Google ad investment from the major direct-from-China sellers, and hence slight reductions in equilibrium CPMs in those auction markets.

Finally, we have to consider retaliatory tariffs – the Chinese government has implemented new duties on a wide range of American imports, and has announced a new investigation of Apple’s App Store policies in the country (sound familiar?).

The tariff situation is highly fluid, and seems liable to change at a moment’s notice. We will of course keep you fully up to speed as the situation evolves. | White House Fact Sheet, Yale Budget Lab, The Information, WSJ

2. Outside of the tariff panic, the rest of the macroeconomy is doing … so so. U.S. GDP grew by 2.5% in 2024, with growth slowing somewhat in Q4 to 2.3%. This is a decline from 3.2% growth in 2023, but it’s a pretty average rate of growth for the modern US economy; we used to grow faster, but a productivity slowdown set in in the 1970s and we just don’t grow as fast anymore.

The labor market, which has demonstrated exceptional resilience since the pandemic, is showing some wobbly signs: US job openings fell in December by more than forecast to a three-month low. Openings have been on a pretty steady decline since peaking in early 2022, when the post-pandemic economy was reopening and demand for labor was insatiable.

The confluence of these and other factors led to a decline in consumer sentiment in January for the first time in six months, on concerns about unemployment and the impact of potential tariffs on inflation.

According to the survey, consumers expect prices will climb at an annual rate of 3.2% over the next five to ten years, up from the 3% expected in December. | WSJ, Bloomberg, Bloomberg

Media Update: Netflix Subscription Fees, TikTok Returns, T-Mobile Acquisition

Jessica Lingle — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 16:37:56 +0000

Paid Media Updates

Media Update: Netflix Subscription Fees, TikTok Returns, T-Mobile Acquisition

By Tinuiti Innovation & Growth Team

Jan 24 2025

Key Highlights:

TV & Audio: Netflix increased subscription fees across tiers, seeking to capitalize on its growing audience in a CPM-pressured environment.
Paid Social: After a short shutdown, TikTok is back, but it’s not out of the woods yet; and emerging platform Bluesky adds a vertical video feed in a bid to capture TikTok users.
Display & Programmatic: T-Mobile looks to evolve the out-of-home landscape by acquiring Vistar.
Search: Perplexity submits a bid to merge with TikTok U.S.
Ad Economy: Amazon makes moves to license its RMN ad tech.
Consumer Economy: Core inflation moderated slightly in December, while the labor market ended 2024 with a bang.

TV & Audio

Harry Browne VP Innovation

Linear news viewership jumped in early January, as some of President Trump’s cabinet nominees faced early Senate confirmation hearings and the Supreme Court ruled on TikTok’s bid to overturn the law requiring its divestiture. Despite the NFL entering the divisional round of the playoffs, sports and broadcast viewership has been down year-over-year.

1. This week, Netflix announced it would increase monthly fees across its plans, with its cheapest ad-supported tier rising from $6.99 to $7.99 per month and the most expensive tier rising from $22.99 to $24.99. The increase comes amid strong subscriber growth for the platform, which gained nearly 19M subscribers in Q4 2024. Those impressive gains were fueled by a litany of premier live sports and entertainment content, including Jake Paul and Mike Tyson’s boxing match and two Christmas Day NFL games with a Beyonce halftime show.

Viewership figures rose with the subscriber counts; while the streamer’s share of viewer attention had been relatively stagnant in recent months, December saw a significant boost as Netflix grew to 8.5% of viewer time, more than double the time spent with Prime Video and nearly a 1% jump month-over-month.

The subscription cost increases come at a relative low point for streaming CPMs. Netflix has been particularly impacted by these pressures, with its CPMs coming down by more than half since its initial launch, a trend exacerbated by the 2024 launch of ads on Prime Video. With revenue from advertisers pressured, Netflix is looking to support its financial picture with more revenue from customers, especially as more than half of new subscriptions in Q4 came from the ad-supported tier. That said, Netflix showed optimism for future ad sales, with co-CEO Greg Peters remarking, “We’ve doubled our ads revenue year-over-year last year. We expect to double it again this year, so that should give you a sense of the slope of monetization growth that we’re on.” Overall, Netflix’s announcement should be taken as another signal of the pressure all publishers – both large and small – are feeling in a hyper-fragmented, hyper-growth streaming landscape. For now, advertisers can take encouragement from a growing audience that is skewing more ad-supported, making Netflix an evermore appetizing investment opportunity. | WSJ, Nielsen

2. In a major coup for the free ad-supported television (FAST) streamers, Fox announced last week that it would stream Super Bowl LIX for free on Tubi. This marks the first time that the Super Bowl has been available free-of-charge on CTV, as access previously relied on having a paid subscription to a streamer or cable provider. Tubi, as well as other FAST networks like Roku and Pluto, has seen strong growth in the past year, with Tubi and Roku both outpacing Peacock, Paramount+, and Max in terms of viewership. Backed by this growth, Tubi’s ad revenues are expected to jump significantly this year, especially with Super Bowl LIX in support.

Fox scored another sports win this week, landing the rights to LIV golf. LIV tournaments will be aired on both linear and streaming platforms, which could help grow the tour, which saw weak ratings when it previously aired on the CW, despite several high-profile participants. Fox has clearly put an emphasis on its streaming sports offering, maintaining a focus even in the aftermath of the scrapped Venu project. As we’ve noted many times before, sports and live events remain one of streaming’s biggest opportunities for continued growth against linear, and Fox’s announcements – coupled with some of the big Netflix events we discussed above – make clear that the publishers are fully embracing this reality. | eMarketer, CNN

Jack Johnston Senior Director Innovation

1. TikTok has had a whirlwind few days, starting with a brief shutdown of its U.S. operations on January 18th in response to a federal ban. By January 19th, operations resumed following ~15 hours of downtime and assurances from President Trump, culminating in an executive order on January 20th granting TikTok a 75-day grace period to remain operational. Despite being back online, TikTok and other ByteDance-owned apps remain unavailable in U.S. app stores, leaving critical software updates inaccessible, which could lead to eventual platform degradation. The timeline is precarious—TikTok must either secure a deal to divest U.S. operations or face enforcement actions when the extension expires on April 5th. For now, advertisers report a rebound in campaign activity, with more efficient CPMs and lower CPAs as platforms regain tractionâ€‹

For advertisers, the uncertainty surrounding TikTok presents both opportunities and risks. On the positive side, current performance metrics are strong, but challenges remain as the app’s absence from stores prevents updates that could mitigate user experience issues over time. Advertisers should weigh the short-term gains of engaging with TikTok against the possibility of another shutdown. Diversification across other platforms is prudent, and brands should stay closely attuned to the latest developments. Additionally, any broader moves to regulate foreign-owned apps could have implications across the social media ecosystem, making adaptability a key strategy for 2025. | Forbes, BBC, New York Times

2. Bluesky is the latest platform to adopt a TikTok-inspired vertical video feed, aligning with the industry-wide pivot to immersive video content. This new feature allows users to swipe vertically through videos, tailored to their feed and community preferences. Unlike other platforms, Bluesky’s emphasis on decentralized control ensures that users dictate their experience, not corporate algorithms. This push aligns with the broader ethos of Bluesky and decentralized platforms, empowering users with more personalized, adaptable content feeds. Alongside Bluesky, the independent “Tik” app, built on the same AT Protocol, is positioning itself as another TikTok alternative. Tik users will even be able to integrate Bluesky content seamlessly, enabling cross-platform sharing without centralized oversight.

This move could prove timely, especially as uncertainty around TikTok’s ownership and future in the U.S. continues. For advertisers, while ads are still not available on either platform, this shift signals the growing appeal of decentralized networks, potentially fragmenting the social media landscape further. Brands should explore how to engage organically on emerging platforms like Bluesky to remain agile and prepared for a potential industry transformation toward decentralized social ecosystems. | SocialMediaToday

Display & Programmatic

Brian Binder Senior Director Innovation

Mergers and acquisitions have been the theme so far this year. Harry has been covering some of the mergers this month in streaming, most notably the Disney and Fubo merger. Now, T-Mobile has entered the spotlight by acquiring Vistar, a digital out-of-home company.

With this deal, T-Mobile will acquire Vistar’s intelligent marketplace and technology to manage campaigns on over 1.1 million digital screens. This deal also adds to T-Mobile’s 2022 purchase of Octopus Interactive, a rideshare-focused ad startup that equips Uber and Lyft vehicles with interactive tablets, and signifies its ambition to be a major player in the out-of-home space.

The Vistar acquisition could unlock opportunities for out-of-home advertisers, paving the way for more sophisticated campaigns. While out-of-home remains a one-to-many medium, T-Mobile’s first-party data and location insights could help brands pinpoint their audience in real-world settings, allowing them to target more strategically and measure ad performance more effectively.

T-Mobile’s move into out-of-home advertising is timely. eMarketer projects that U.S. OOH ad spending will exceed $10 billion for the first time by 2027, 42% of which will come from digital formats. While we see this acquisition as one that could create new opportunities in the OOH space, we remain cautiously optimistic as the telecom sector’s track record with ad tech ventures warrants some skepticism. As the merger unfolds, it’s one we’ll be watching closely. | T-Mobile, AdExchanger, eMarketer

Search

Michelle Merklin VP of Paid Search Growth & Innovation

In a largely unexpected move, on Saturday January 18th, the same day that TikTok went temporarily dark in the US, Perplexity AI submitted a bid to ByteDance (TikTok’s parent company) proposing that Perplexity merge with TikTok U.S. Though any potential transaction would likely take months to complete, sources speculate Perplexity likely feels it has a chance with this bid since it’s proposing a merger, not an acquisition (ByteDance has already stated it wouldn’t fully sell TikTok).

If a merger were to happen, the move would be potentially transformative, allowing the quickly growing generative AI answer engine to tap into TikTok’s vast inventory of video content and bolster its answers with more visually compelling search results. Currently, Perplexity’s search results are largely text-based with limited visuals in most answers. This could be seen as a potential limitation compared to more widely used search engines (namely Google) where result pages have become increasingly visual and eye-catching in recent years. When videos are included in Perplexity’s answer results, the majority of those videos seem to be pulled from YouTube as opposed to other user-generated content sources, such as TikTok.Notably, Perplexity has been making other moves to integrate additional data sources into its tech stack. Back in mid-December, Perplexity announced its acquisition of Carbon, a retrieval engine that connects data sources to LLMs, making it possible to connect apps such as Google Docs directly to Perplexity’s answer engine. And earlier this week, Perplexity announced Sonar Pro API, its solution that enables real-time, web-wide research with citations to enhance generative search tools by providing more accurate, up-to-date answers. This development will improve online search by delivering more accurate, research-backed results in real time. These types of acquisitions and developments, in addition to the recent bid for a merger with TikTok U.S., suggest this still new-to-market competitor in the search space isn’t letting its foot off the gas any time soon. | CNBC, WSJ

Ad Economy

Simon Poulton EVP Innovation

Previously, we’ve highlighted Amazon’s ever-expanding presence in the advertising ecosystem. While Q4 2024 results are expected in early February, Amazon reported 19% year-over-year growth in ad revenue for Q3 2024, totaling $14.3 billion. This growth stems not only from its massive reach and loyal user base but also from strategic partnerships and cutting-edge ad tech infrastructure.

At CES 2025, Amazon unveiled its latest strategic move: the beta launch of Retail Ad Service. This platform aims to enable retailers to leverage Amazon’s technology for their own retail media networks (RMNs). With every brand holding customer emails and transaction histories eyeing RMNs as a revenue driver, this solution positions Amazon as the go-to partner for those seeking to enter this space. By offering a ready-to-deploy infrastructure, Amazon eliminates the challenges of building RMNs from the ground up, allowing retailers to focus on scaling and monetizing faster. While this may be viewed as a move to democratize access for brands to deploy RMNs, it is perhaps best viewed as Amazon’s attempt to increase its advertising footprint beyond its own ecosystem and across the open web. As RMNs continue to proliferate, Amazon’s strategy could redefine industry standards for customer engagement and monetization. It’s likely that Amazon envisions itself as the backbone of RMN technology, particularly as these networks consolidate to capture greater reach and advertiser attention. In an era of RMN expansion, Amazon seems well-positioned to shape the future of retail advertising. | CNBC, Amazon

Consumer Economy

Sean Odlum CPO

1. The third week of the new year brought a fresh inflation print, showing the CPI accelerated to 2.9% YoY in January, while “core” CPI declined to 3.2%. It is important to note that the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index, was considerably lower at 2.4% in its most recent reading in November.

Markets welcomed the news, with both equity and bond markets rallying; presumably, market participants’ inference is that the data will allow, or at least not prevent, the Fed from lowering interest rates throughout 2025. Futures markets currently imply about a 16% chance that the Fed does not cut rates at all this year.

The Fed has a complicated path ahead, however. From the perspective of a monetary policy maker aiming to restrain increases in the price level, one would hope for strong productivity growth and small budget deficits (or, as long as we’re dreaming, budget surpluses!). The new Trump administration appears to be intent on making the Fed’s job harder in this respect; we’ll refrain from opining on the wisdom of any of these policy proposals, but tariffs, tax cuts, and a crackdown on immigration all cut against at least one of these priorities. Even amid all this policy uncertainty, market participants see a high probability (per above) of interest rate reduction this year. | WSJ

2. The week prior to the inflation report, we got a fresh jobs report that showed hiring blew past expectations in December, with employers adding over a quarter-million new jobs during the month. The strong hiring pushed down the unemployment rate slightly to 4.1%, higher than its historic lows during the post-COVID expansion but still extremely low by historical US standards.

The strong December numbers cap a terrific year for the US labor market. For the whole of 2024, American employers added 2.2 million jobs, more than double the number expected at the beginning of the year. Moreover, while 75% of new jobs in 2024 were added in just three sectors – healthcare, leisure & hospitality, and government, at least two of which are generally regarded as having low productivity – December’s additions were highly diversified across retail, professional and business services, information technology, and finance.

Perhaps the most encouraging data point from the jobs report was moderate nominal wage growth, which came in at +0.3% MoM, somewhat slower than the prior month. Nominal wage growth is regarded as the most reliable leading indicator of price inflation, so the Fed will regard this as a welcome data point. All signs from the labor market seem to be pointing toward the hoped-for soft landing; now inflation just needs to complete the final lap. | WSJ

Google Performance Max: Ad Examples & Tips

Tinuiti Team — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 01:49:00 +0000

Google Performance Max: Ad Examples & Tips

By Emily Sullivan

Jan 12 2025

Google’s Performance Max campaigns came out of beta more than three years ago, and have grown to be a wildly popular campaign type among new and experienced marketers alike. In this article, we’ll unpack what Google Performance Max campaigns are, how they differ from other campaign types, benefits and best practices, reporting functionality, ad optimization tips, and Tinuiti’s PMax approach.

What is Google Performance Max?

Google Performance Max (PMax) is an automated, goal-based campaign type that enables advertisers to promote across all Google networks, including Google Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps, from a single campaign. Launched in 2020, PMax is designed to complement existing keyword-based Search and Shopping campaigns, offering a broader reach and deeper automation capabilities to drive better performance across diverse marketing objectives.

Through consolidation of inventories and ad types, PMax reduces complexity while expanding access to ad inventory, formats, and insights that weren’t previously available with other campaign types, like Smart Shopping or Local campaigns. Not only that, but Google is rolling out new updates for PMax on a regular basis. In 2024, Google introduced advanced AI features, asset-level reporting and placement visibility, as well as new A/B testing capabilities and brand guidelines.

Why Use Performance Max?

PMax campaigns leverage Google’s AI to streamline and optimize ad performance. Instead of manually managing multiple campaigns, advertisers provide assets (like headlines, images, and videos) and inputs (like audience signals and goals), and Google automates the ad creation and delivery process. Google’s AI identifies the most effective asset combinations and optimizes them for conversion, showing the right ad to the right audience on the right platform.

Key benefits include:

Wide reach: Advertisers can reach potential customers across all Google channels in a single campaign.
AI-driven optimization: Google’s real-time analysis of user intent, behavior, and context ensures ads are shown to audiences most likely to convert.
Improved efficiency: PMax simplifies campaign management while uncovering new customer opportunities.

How It Works

Think of PMax as a chef: you supply the ingredients (creative assets) and recipe (campaign structure), and Google’s automation cooks and serves the final dish. The system analyzes inputs like goals, audience signals, and creative assets to deliver ads tailored to user preferences and behaviors across platforms.

The automation prioritizes efficiency, constantly learning from real-time data to enhance ad delivery and performance. Google’s AI can even leverage first-party data to predict when a user is most likely to take action, maximizing campaign outcomes.

Who Should Use Performance Max?

PMax is ideal for advertisers seeking:

Broad exposure across multiple Google networks with minimal setup.
Enhanced performance through AI-driven insights and optimizations.
Streamlined management, especially for campaigns with diverse audiences or complex goals.

Retailers, local marketers, and businesses looking to increase conversions and revenue while simplifying campaign operations can particularly benefit from PMax.

For example, one of our clients specializing in software sought to expand their search campaign’s reach and drive more qualified traffic to their site. After evaluating the options, we recommended testing a new Performance Max campaign. We kept their existing traditional search campaigns targeted at highly qualified leads, then helped them set up a PMax campaign targeting highly qualified, qualified, and net new leads.

Initially, the client focused on the holistic client service asset group and allocated a small amount of money to the PMax campaign. When that experimental spend materialized into a growing volume of qualified leads, we expanded our scope. Campaign spend scaled each week, and our targeting advanced to more niche asset groups focused on product categories and size of the organization. By month two, this test campaign had become the client’s most efficient Non-Brand campaign for generating qualified leads, driving 21% more qualified leads than other Non-Brand campaigns.

Insights and Reporting

Although PMax minimizes manual optimization, it offers unique insights into audience behavior, performance drivers, and search trends. Advanced reporting features, including asset performance recommendations and placement visibility, help advertisers fine-tune their strategies for maximum impact.

By combining AI-driven efficiency with cross-channel reach, Google Performance Max campaigns empower advertisers to connect with audiences more effectively and drive stronger business results.

“The Insights piece is a shift from what we have been accustomed to, but Google has slowly begun to provide us with more reports to help us better understand this campaign type. Performance Max aims to look at things holistically—client gives you X budget, and here is X ROI across the funnel. Trusting in Performance Max to do its thing with the signals you give it, and shifting the way we analyze performance, is the biggest hurdle with the campaign type.”

— Courtney O’Donnell, Sr. Director, Client Partner at Tinuiti

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Key Elements & Specs for Performance Max Campaigns

To maximize PMax effectiveness, it’s essential to understand the key elements, specs, and best practices for each asset type. Here’s a breakdown:

1. Headlines

Brands can create up to 5 different headlines up to 30 characters long, giving them an opportunity to use a variety of messages to appeal to different audience segments. Google will then get to work mixing and matching various headlines with various descriptions.

When writing headlines, remember that you only have a moment to catch the reader’s attention. We recommend starting with using action-oriented language to encourage them to quickly click through. For example, your target consumer may respond better to an emotional headline telling them they can “Save time today,” or they might respond better to a benefit-oriented statement like “Our solutions streamline workflows.” Thankfully, Performance Max will figure that out for you on the back end.

2. Long Headlines

While some ad placements only allow for shorter headlines, others allow marketers to use one long headline that’s up to 90 characters long.

Long headlines should be used to display your most important messaging in a prominent way since they appear instead of the two shorter headlines mentioned above. In some cases, your long headline may even appear without a description included. For that reason, make sure you’re hitting all of your important selling points, building trust, and encouraging people to click through with a compelling call to action.

3. Descriptions

Each Performance Max ad can have up to 5 descriptions that are 90 characters long. This will appear under two different headlines for most types of PMax ads. While your headlines are designed to attract attention, descriptions should highlight your unique value propositions and explain key product benefits. Then, use the remaining 10 or so characters to include a CTA like “Learn more” or “Shop now!”

4. Images & Logos

Performance Max lets advertisers upload up to 20 image assets for three different ad dimensions, following these specifications:

At least one Square (1:1) image, minimum 300×300 pixels. Google recommends at least 4 images up to 1200×1200 pixels.
At least one landscape (1.91:1) image, minimum 600×314 pixels. Google recommends at least 4 images up to 1200×628 pixels.
The option to add portrait (4:5) images, minimum 480×600 pixels. Google recommends at least 2 images up to 960×1200 pixels.

For best results, we recommend using high-quality visuals and engaging in creative testing to ensure the visuals resonate with your audience. The possibilities for creative testing are endless, but we recommend testing images that shows the product in various use cases, or its alignment with a certain lifestyle. Advertisers can also easily try out new creative using Google Gemini, whether it’s a small tweak to an image’s background or a complete reimagining.

Unlike some social media advertising platforms, Google welcomes text on image assets. Just keep in mind too much text can dilute the messaging behind your image asset. For this reason, Google recommends advertisers upload at least one image asset without significant text overlay.

5. Logos

For certain ad placements, such as YouTube ads, Google will display a square or landscape logo along with ad copy. The recommended specs are as follows:

Upload at least one square (1:1) logo, at minimum 128×128 pixels. Advertisers may upload up to five logos as large as 1200×1200 pixels.
Advertisers may also upload up to five landscape (4:1) logos, at minimum 512×128 pixels and as large as 1200×300 pixels.

Before uploading your logo, ensure the image is high quality and centered. It’s also important to note Google does not support transparent backgrounds for ads, and all transparent space will be rendered with a white background.

6. Videos

Since they open up more ad placements, uploading video assets for your Performance Max campaign is highly recommended. Videos must follow these requirements:

Use HD video
Use the MPG-2 or MPG-4 formats
Videos must be horizontal (16:9), vertical (9:16), or square (1:1)
You may upload at most 5 videos for each of the ratios above
Videos must be at least 10 seconds long
If you’d like to be eligible for ads on YouTube Shorts, upload at least one 9:16 video between 10-60 seconds long
If you’d like to advertise on YouTube, do not upload audio files such as MP3, WAV, or PCM

When designing video ads, remember that less is more. Try to create thumb-stopping interest within the first 5 seconds of your video, and include brand visuals and incentive to clickthrough early. Remember that many consumers are more ad fatigued than ever and liable to stop paying attention just a few moments after seeing an ad.

Additionally, don’t forget to provide captions for your video ads. It’ll make your brand’s messaging more accessible to a wider audience.

7. Call-to-Action (CTA)

Advertisers can also choose a call to action (CTA) to include with an ad. For example, when a user views a video ad it may include a brief slide with a button asking people to “RSVP Now.” Google offers simple pre-set CTAs, or you can create a custom CTA.

In most cases, it’s best to customize your CTA to ensure it aligns with your audience’s motivations and current stage in the marketing funnel. For example, awareness campaigns may benefit from a “See more” CTA, while a conversion-focused campaign may ask the viewer to “Buy Now.”

8. Audience Signals

Audience signals provide Google with insights into your ideal audience based on demographics, intent, and behaviors. It’s completely optional, but it will give Google some initial direction in targeting your campaign.

The best way to get started is to connect your first-party data. For example, you can upload your email list via Customer Match to target customers at the bottom of the funnel, or website visitors for mid-funnel targeting. From there, you can layer in Google’s in-market and affinity audiences to expand beyond your known audience. From there, keep track of which audience segments are performing well and optimize accordingly.

9. Final URL

Finally, provide Google with a destination URL for your landing page. However, this step should not be as simple as copying and pasting a link. At the very least, employ basic landing page best practices to improve page speed and mobile friendliness. Marketers with a more advanced strategy may use more tactics like custom landing pages for each ad campaign or ongoing optimization through split testing.

10. Search Themes

Search themes are a new AI-driven feature within Google Performance Max. Advertisers can give Google up to 25 different topics that are relevant to their target audience, such as “family activities” or “vacation planning.” From there, Google will show your ads for keywords that are related to those topics. It’s not too unlike how phrase or broad match keywords work, but are a little less prescriptive and a little more tangible.

Adding search themes is almost always a net positive for campaigns, since you’re directly telling Google’s AI which topics are interesting to your consumers. This is especially helpful if Google’s AI doesn’t have much landing page copy to reference or if you’re launching a new product with limited information online. However, it can help any brand expand their reach and optimize performance by bidding on more relevant queries.

Best Practices when Setting Up a Performance Max Campaign

Advertisers have compared Performance Max Campaigns to several other campaign types, including Smart campaigns, Social campaigns, and responsive Display campaigns. And while there are elements that bear similarity in varying ways to all of the above, it’s important to consider the functionality and benefits of this campaign type specifically.

Give Performance Max campaigns freedom to function as intended

We’re of the belief that if you are going to test Performance Max you should lean in, and not try to make this campaign something it was never meant to be. Sure, there are tutorials online for finagling a Performance Max campaign to be a Search campaign or a Shopping campaign – it is possible! However, time can be better spent focusing on how to best leverage a campaign that was designed by its very nature to bring all of that together.

Implement audience signals to set automated targeting up for speedy success

Think of audience signals as customer personas that Performance Max uses as your ideal shopper, functioning similarly to lookalike audiences on social platforms. This won’t be the only customer type that your campaign reaches, rather it will be the foundational core upon which other audiences are built—your seed audience.

The audience signals you provide Google are used to determine ‘the right direction’; Google then follows those paths to find additional users it feels your campaign is also suitable for. Audience signals work best when used in combination with your own data and custom segments.

Because you can create multiple audience signals, we recommend experimenting with different signals to see how each performs. Consider including the following:

Remarketing
Customer Match
Search Themes
Interests
Foundational Demographics

The impact of audience signals is significant. We recently worked with a specialty apparel brand that ran multiple overlapping PMax assets groups segmented by brand. This resulted in placements that reached the right audience, but didn’t always align with search intent. Our paid search team helped them restructure to an audience-first approach using audience signals, search themes, and first party data. Then, we created custom tailored creative for each audience.

The results were astounding – not only did clickthroughs increase by 19%, their onsite conversion rate increased by 44%. For that reason, we highly recommend most brands utilize audience-first targeting approaches on PMax.

Decide if you’ll use Final URL expansion

If you want to give Google even more control with Performance Max campaigns, similar to dynamic search ad campaigns, you can allow Google’s AI to choose the landing page URLs for each of your ads. LP exclusions are available if there are specific pages you never want used; these can include exclusions based on URL parameters (ex. blocking a full sub-folder) or individual landing pages.

While this type of testing for PMax is still in beta, at Tinuiti, we recommend using A/B Experiments to test final URL expansion.

Decide whether the New Customer Acquisition goal is right for you

The new customer acquisition goal, also available for Search campaigns, presents an exciting opportunity for advertisers looking to target new-to-brand audiences. Using this goal, advertisers can choose from the following bidding options:

New Customer Value mode: Campaigns are optimized to bid higher for new customers (not available for store goals)
New Customer Only mode: Campaigns are optimized to only bid for new customers
High Value New Customer Mode (Beta): Campaigns are optimized to bid higher for high value new customers than regular new customers and existing
High Value Win-Back Mode (Beta): Campaigns are optimized to bid higher for high-value lapsed customers than for regular lapsed customers

Define Asset Groups

Keep all your creative organized by breaking out thematically-similar or same-audience assets into their own asset groups, using multiple asset groups for each campaign. Asset groups help you to give Google the best array of options to choose from, while ensuring you don’t get a ‘mixed bag’ of creative for a given ad.

Think of building out your asset group as packing a lunch, except the lunch is for Google. In each asset group you’ll want to pack a nice selection of images, videos, headlines, logos, and other textual elements. The higher-quality assets you feed Google, the better your ads will look.

If you are a promotional brand, you should consider creating evergreen asset groups and promotional asset groups in order to easily shift creative between promotional and non-promotional periods.

Don’t turn off your Search campaigns

Performance Max is designed to complement your existing Search campaigns, not replace them. In fact, according to Google’s latest claims (2024), Performance Max delivers 8% higher return on ad spend (ROAS) than search strategies alone. There is some campaign overlap on non-exact match keywords you’ll have to consider to safeguard against self-cannibalization.

We recommend that for any keyword for which you’ll want to have complete control and in-depth reporting, you ensure it is an exact match keyword in Search. Exact match keywords that are identical to the search term are prioritized over any other broad or phrase keyword or a Performance Max campaign. Also, monitor Search performance after launching to see if broad match keywords dropped off for a specific category once PMax was launched.

Consider brand safety

The lack of control over what ads will show where, and with which creative, is what makes many brands nervous about Performance Max campaigns. That said, despite it being true that there is less control overall, you can run a placement report, sort destinations by impression volume (unfortunately you cannot see spend by placement), and then exclude any sites you don’t want to show ads on. Exclusions are set at the account level.

Tinuiti’s Google Performance Max Approach

Thanks to Performance Max’s unparalleled audience targeting that leverages the most sophisticated machine learning, our teams consider Performance Max the perfect complement to your current Search strategy. We develop Performance Max campaigns in tandem with existing Paid Search efforts to minimize potential cannibalization or duplicated targeting. Here’s how we do it:

1. Adopt an Audience-First Approach

Our audience-first strategy focuses on understanding and prioritizing the needs of your target audience to create impactful campaigns by:

Establishing goals and metrics (e.g., new customer growth, revenue, brand awareness).
Defining key audience segments using three pillars: first-party audiences, search themes and demographics, and in-market and affinity audiences.
Collaborating with Lifecycle Marketing experts for refined audience segmentation and list automation.

When setting up campaigns, a one-campaign-to-one-asset-group ratio allows clear performance insights, such as how a “women’s winter jackets” campaign performs independently. However, over-segmentation can limit data, while overly broad grouping reduces insights into sub-categories. Striking the right balance is critical and requires close collaboration with stakeholders to decide what to run through PMax and address other strategic considerations.

2. Optimize Your Creative

Compelling, high-quality creative assets are vital to Performance Max success. Tinuiti helps clients test headlines, images, and more to find what resonates with target audiences. Our video creation service offers tailored support for PMax campaigns, using existing assets or producing new ones from scratch.

3. Control Your Product Feed Levers

We test and refine feed attributes—like titles, descriptions, and images—to improve visibility and revenue. A scheduled cadence for feed optimizations and tests helps maintain strong campaign performance.

4. Tinuiti’s Enhanced Performance Max Reporting

Tinuiti’s proprietary Performance Max reporting offers deeper insights than standard PMax tools. These customized reports analyze spend and revenue distribution by channel and track performance changes after bid or creative adjustments, enabling more informed, data-driven decisions.

Conclusion

In addition to the benefits Google Performance Max offers today, it will continue to evolve as AI advances, future-proofing your marketing strategy. Simply put, Google isn’t going to let one of their key products fall behind. The time and energy you put into learning and optimizing Performance Max campaigns will continue to be time well-spent for the foreseeable future.

Wondering how your Google Ads campaigns stack up? Check out our most recent Digital Ads Benchmark report to see how factors like AI and new video advertising channels influenced ad spend. Or, if you’re ready to speak with an expert about your Google Ads strategy drop us a line and we’ll be in touch!

Media Update: Disney-Fubo Agreement, YouTube Pilot Feature, Holiday Shopping Increases

Jessica Lingle — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 17:33:00 +0000

Paid Media Updates

Media Update: Disney-Fubo Agreement, YouTube Pilot Feature, Holiday Shopping Increases

By Tinuiti Innovation & Growth Team

Jan 09 2025

Key Highlights

TV & Audio: We predicted consolidation for 2025, and it’s already kicked off with a Disney-Fubo agreement and a new unified ad buying tool from Comcast.
Paid Social: Meta announces changes to its content moderation practices, and TikTok prepares for its Supreme Court hearing this Friday.
Display & Programmatic: YouTube is piloting a feature, Watch With, allowing viewers to watch commentary and analysis of live games and events from select creators.
Search: Google outlined its proposed remedies in the DOJ monopoly case, focusing on flexibility, choice and safeguards.
Consumer Economy: Holiday shopping outlays increased by almost 4% YoY, underpinned by strong GDP growth and significant progress on the inflation front.

TV & Audio

Harry Browne VP Innovation

Linear sports viewership started strong in 2025 with impressive numbers for the first-ever College Football Playoff quarterfinals, which averaged ~17M viewers per game over the New Year’s holiday. Despite the upcoming presidential inauguration, news viewership has been relatively modest in recent weeks, while entertainment – the largest bucket by total audience – remains consistently down year-over-year.

1. If you were a regular reader of this forum in 2024, you likely recall that one of the major predictions we had for the future was streaming consolidation. Less than a week into 2025, we’ve seen two major developments that confirm this trend.

On Monday, Disney announced it would merge its Hulu + Live streaming offering with competitor Fubo, with Fubo dropping its lawsuit against Venu, the proposed sports streaming JV from Fox, Warner Bros Discovery, and Disney-owned ESPN. Terms of the agreement were complex, with Disney taking 70% ownership of Fubo, offering a $145M loan, and participating in a $220M cash payment with Fox and WBD to end the lawsuit. After Fubo had won an injunction against the JV last summer, the fate of Venu had been up in the air until this agreement was announced (just moments before oral argument was set to begin in a federal appeals court).

However, just days later, Disney, WBD, and Fox decided not to move forward with Venu at all. Instead, the companies will “[focus] on existing products and distribution channels.” The announcement came as a surprise, not only because of the resolution of the legal dispute, but also because viewer appeal was expected to be significant, with Venu slated to offer NFL, MLB, NHL, and NCAA athletics coverage at prices meaningfully below traditional cable or YouTube TV. While the aggressive consolidation Venu promised will have to wait, the Fubo / Hulu + Live combination will still be formidable. It will have ample opportunity for success, as live sports viewership on digital pay TV is projected to grow rapidly over the next few years.

In addition to consolidation for viewers, Monday also saw an announcement of consolidation for advertisers. FreeWheel – Comcast’s ad management platform – announced the launch of a self-serve ad-buying platform called Universal Ads. The new platform, which will enter alpha testing before a broader roll-out in H2, is geared towards small to mid-sized advertisers with a goal of simplifying CTV ad buying. Universal Ads has an impressive array of launch partners, including A+E, AMC, DirecTV, WBD, NBCU, Fox, Paramount, and Roku. Importantly, Disney, Netflix, and Amazon (owners of the four most-watched non-YouTube streaming platforms) are not part of the new offering.

For advertisers, these developments are further evidence that 2025 will be the year of consolidation. More SMBs competing for CTV inventory could lead to increased CPMs in the open market, especially after an extended period of competition pushed those rates down. Meanwhile, greater partnership between the publishers – not to mention JVs like Venu or outright combinations like Hulu + Live and Fubo – could have a similar effect as publishers may coordinate their offerings. Tinuiti has recognized these pressures, and fortunately for our clients, we access most of our CTV inventory through prenegotiated deal terms with our publisher partners that leverage our size and industry gravity, ensuring that we consistently access market-beating CPMs. With that said, advertisers should pay close attention to developments in this space over the course of 2025, as further consolidation should be expected. | Business Wire, eMarketer

2. The context for streaming consolidation is, of course, the long decline of linear. While streaming networks grow and grow, the number of highly penetrated cable networks continues to shrink. In 2021, almost half of cable networks reached a majority of US households; today, only about a quarter of networks can do so. Traditional cable now only has a 39% national distribution, leading one media buyer to remark: “That’s not national anymore, that’s local.” Those viewers have shifted over to streaming, leading to explosive growth for many different platforms.

While the obvious conclusion advertisers should draw is to invest in CTV in 2025, brands should be careful not to write off linear TV entirely. Though the reach of individual linear networks has declined, it is still very possible – and even efficient – to reach massive audiences on linear networks through a more diversified investment. Said one buyer to AdAge, “We can get the same reach through the TV set this year that we did last year, and the year before. But if we think we’re getting the same reach by doing the same buy every year, that’s where we’re mistaken.” Rather than investing heavily in linear upfronts on a handful of networks or programming, advertisers should stay dynamic with their linear dollars and access a variety of inventory types: national-locals, rated and unrated networks, diverse dayparts, and more. A broad campaign that accesses many smaller pools of viewers rather than a few large ones can result in high reach at the right price, meaning linear can remain a powerful channel for advertisers even amid its secular decline with audiences. | AdAge, eMarketer

Jack Johnston Senior Director Innovation

1. This week, Meta unveiled a transformative shift in content moderation across its platforms. The new “Community Notes” system, set to replace Meta’s third-party fact-checking in the U.S. by the end of Q2 2025, hands moderation responsibilities to users, fostering a more transparent and community-driven approach. In tandem, Meta has relaxed restrictions on sensitive topics, narrowing its enforcement focus to illegal and high-severity content violations. These moves align with Meta’s goal to enhance user empowerment and mirror strategies seen on competitor platforms like X.

For advertisers, the implications could be significant. On one hand, with reduced content restrictions, campaigns may face fewer hurdles during approval processes, enabling more creative flexibility. Personalized user feeds also unlock new opportunities for precise targeting. However, user-driven moderation introduces unpredictability, with ads potentially flagged as misleading or controversial by the community. Coupled with relaxed content guidelines, this could heighten brand safety concerns, particularly in markets where enforcement varies.

Advertisers should view these changes with cautious optimism. While the potential for improved ad performance is encouraging and users will be able to curate their feeds, advertisers should remain vigilant in community management. Lean into Meta’s brand safety tools, leverage tailored block lists, and maintain a feedback loop with your Meta team to navigate this transition effectively. As always, staying proactive and adaptable will be key to maximizing these opportunities while mitigating risks. | NBC, Meta, PPC Land

2. On Friday, January 10th, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a landmark case on the potential nationwide ban of TikTok, currently slated for January 19th, 2025. The hearing comes following December’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals that the law would be upheld, requiring ByteDance to divest its interest in TikTok or risk the app getting banned. The Supreme Court has affirmed that it plans to issue a decision prior to the current January 19th deadline. The outcome could reshape digital platform regulation in the U.S. and has sparked significant public interest, with polls showing mixed support for a ban.

As discussed in last month’s newsletter, TikTok’s uncertain future is a call to diversify strategies. Although the app will not fully disappear on January 19th if the ban is upheld, advertisers will be best equipped if they have contingency plans on standby and can pivot if performance begins to decline. President-elect Trump has also tried to make a plea to delay the deadline until he is in office, but the request was denied, creating further speculation about what the future of the app could look like under the incoming administration. Brands should monitor developments closely, and remain flexible in adapting their media plans to this rapidly evolving landscape. | Forbes, USA Today, YouGov

Display & Programmatic

Brian Binder Senior Director Innovation

Last year, we talked a lot about YouTube, and for good reason. It had a standout 2024: it became the top platform for podcasts, surpassing both Spotify and Apple; it also maintained prominence as the number one streaming platform, capturing over 10% of TV watch time. YouTube’s increasing role in sports viewership was a big driver of this growth, with watch time growing by 30% YoY. During the Olympics alone, it amassed 40 billion minutes of watch time, nearly half coming from TV screens.

While YouTube is still the go-to for highlights and analysis, it’s now looking to expand its live-stream coverage beyond NFL Sunday Ticket with a new pilot, Watch With. The new pilot, akin to Monday Night Football’s Manningcast, lets viewers experience live games and events on YouTube, with creators delivering real-time commentary, insights, and reactions.

While there are limited details on the pilot so far, we’re keeping a close eye on this pilot for a couple of reasons. First, we expect it to be one of several 2025 announcements from YouTube focused on sports and live-streaming. Second, though no ad opportunities have been revealed yet, YouTube’s creator-driven platform and the growing trend of younger viewers turning to social media for sports content could be the foundation for exciting, unique opportunities for brands to engage with live sports fans through sponsorships or paid placements. | WSJ, Nielsen, TubeFilter, YouTube Blog

Search

Michelle Merklin VP of Paid Search Growth & Innovation

Right before the Christmas holiday, Google shared a summary of its proposed remedies to the DOJ’s online search distribution monopoly case. The company was clear that it intends to appeal the Court’s decision, but is first required to file proposed remedies. Google’s message has been consistent: “People don’t use Google because they have to — they use it because they want to,” according to Lee-Anne Mulholland, VP of Regulatory Affairs at Google.

In its blog post, Google also called out the rapidly changing Search landscape, noting increased competition from AI-powered search services, such as ChatGPT Search and Perplexity. Additionally, Google emphasized how the DOJ’s current proposal would “harm American consumers and undermine America’s global technology leadership at a critical juncture,” by requiring Google to share people’s private search queries, and by restricting innovation.

Google’s proposed remedies included the following primary themes:

Browser agreement flexibility: provide greater flexibility to browser companies (ex: Apple, Mozilla) by allowing for multiple default agreements across different platforms and browsing modes, and the ability to change their default search provider at least every 12 months.
Android contract flexibility: greater flexibility for device makers to preload multiple search engines (ex: Google, Bing) and any Google app independently of preloading Search or Chrome.
AI competition safeguards: Android partners can license Google Play, Search, and/or Chrome without also licensing Google’s Gemini Assistant mobile app, essentially meaning Google cannot use its business agreements to block or discourage competition from other AI chatbot providers. This is to “address the potential for generative AI chatbots to become substitutes for general search engines,” per the full proposed final judgement case filing from December 20, 2024.

The hearing is expected to begin in late April 2025. | Google blog, Proposed final judgement case filing, Search Engine Land

Consumer Economy

Sean Odlum CPO

1. The Black Friday-Cyber Monday shopping period, which was up 3.5% YoY, proved to be a reliable leading indicator for the holiday season – American shoppers increased their total outlays from Nov 1st – Dec 24th by 3.8% YoY, with restaurant spending up over 6%, online sales up over 6%, and in-store sales up almost 3%.

The overall picture is composed of a bifurcation across income brackets, with most of the gains driven by households making over $100k. The chief executive of a pen manufacturer said, “We started to notice this trend where there was a real bifurcation in the market between the $50,000-and-below consumer in the U.S. market and the $100,000-and-above consumer,” a sentiment that was echoed by observers across numerous industries.

The overall increase in consumer spending is underpinned by strong, broad-based economic growth in the US: GDP growth for 3Q was revised upward to an annualized 3.1%, reflecting an acceleration from 2Q; however, the Atlanta Fed’s real-time GDP estimator suggests 2.4% growth for 4Q at the time of writing.

This projected decline in economic growth is mirrored by a sudden downturn in consumer confidence, the first decline in three months.

According to the survey’s authors, the drivers of the decline are “politics and tariffs.” | WSJ, Bloomberg, Bloomberg

2. At its last rate-setting meeting of 2024, the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark rate by a quarter-point to a target range of 4.25% – 4.5%. This was the third reduction in the Fed’s loosening cycle, following a half-point cut in September and a quarter-point cut in November. In its announcement, Fed officials indicated a slower future pace of reductions, triggering significant equity market declines.

A couple of days following the interest rate announcement, a fresh print of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge was released which showed PCE inflation slowed in November, rising 0.1% over the prior month and 2.8% over the prior year. The monthly advance was the slowest since May of this year.

A private-sector economist observed, “Overall, this is just what the Fed ordered — US economic strength continues, but with muted price pressures.”

The Fed’s success in combatting inflation has come without damaging the labor market, which is a remarkable achievement. At the end of December, initial unemployment claims fell to an eight-month low, while continuing unemployment claims fell to a three-month low:

The fly in the labor market ointment is that recurring applications are set to post a second straight year of increases, which is historically rare outside of recessions. | CNBC, Bloomberg, Bloomberg

How to Measure Performance of TV Ads [Linear & Streaming]

Emily Sullivan — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 17:17:11 +0000

Measurement

How to Measure Performance of TV Ads [Linear & Streaming]

By Emily Sullivan

Jan 02 2025

Measuring TV ad effectiveness isn’t just about counting views anymore. It’s a strategic game that can make or break your marketing efforts.

Television advertising has long been a cornerstone of marketing campaigns, offering unmatched reach and the ability to tell compelling brand stories. Yet, the difficulty in measuring TV ad performance—especially for linear campaigns—has historically made it a challenging channel to attribute directly to business outcomes.

But the landscape is shifting. The rise of streaming platforms and advancements in big data analytics are transforming TV into a more measurable medium, bridging the gap between linear’s broad appeal and streaming’s precise targeting.

Here’s how to measure the performance of both linear and streaming TV ads to ensure your campaigns drive maximum impact.

Measuring Performance of Ads on Linear TV vs. OTT

Measuring advertising performance across linear TV and OTT requires understanding nuanced yet interconnected approaches. Traditional measurement methods like brand awareness surveys, focus groups, and Nielsen ratings have long been staples for linear TV, providing broad demographic insights. Emerging techniques like digital tracking pixels and real-time engagement metrics are transforming OTT advertising measurement, offering more precise, user-level data.

Despite their differences, both linear TV and OTT advertising share critical measurement goals: understanding audience reach, validating advertising investment, optimizing media strategies, and demonstrating campaign effectiveness. The core similarities include the need for strategic planning, comprehensive performance tracking, clear campaign objectives, and a deep understanding of their target audience’s behavior.

While linear TV measurement tends to be broader, OTT provides near real-time analytics with granular insights. Advertisers must leverage both traditional and innovative measurement techniques to create a holistic view of campaign performance, recognizing that each medium offers unique strengths in tracking and understanding audience engagement.

Television advertising isn’t just about throwing your message into the void and hoping for the best. It’s a strategic science, and the right metrics are your roadmap to understanding true performance.

Which Metrics are Important for Measuring TV Ad Effectiveness?

Reach is the total number of unique viewers exposed to your ad, indicating your potential audience size. Think of reach like casting a net—the wider the net, the more fish you might catch.

Frequency measures how many times the same viewer sees your ad, helping build brand recognition through repeated exposure. It’s the marketing equivalent of “if you say something enough times, people start to listen.”

Gross Rating Points (GRP) represent reach multiplied by frequency, providing a standardized measurement of ad campaign impact. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of TV advertising metrics.

Impressions and CPM refer to the total number of ad views and the cost per thousand impressions, offering insight into advertising efficiency. It’s like checking how much you’re paying per potential customer touchpoint.

Brand Lift captures changes in audience perception and awareness, tracking the emotional and cognitive impact of your ad. Beyond numbers, it measures how your ad makes people feel.

Last but certainly not least is Sales Lift. Sales Lift is the ultimate proof of advertising effectiveness—it’s the direct revenue increase that’s attributable to your campaigns. For marketers, this shifts the narrative entirely: from seeing advertising as a cost center to recognizing it as a revenue driver.

But here’s the challenge: proving direct sales impact is notoriously difficult, especially for channels where there’s no click to track. Think of the complex consumer journey—TV ads, out-of-home displays, streaming audio—all of these influence decisions, but their contribution can easily be lost in the mix.

That’s where Bliss Point by Tinuiti becomes transformative. By leveraging advanced modeling and attribution techniques, this platform brings clarity to the murky waters of multi-channel marketing, quantifying the sales impact of every touchpoint—even those that seem intangible.

The ability to measure Sales Lift across traditionally hard-to-attribute channels isn’t just a technical achievement. It’s a game-changer for marketing strategies. It equips brands with the proof they need to optimize investments, back up decisions with confidence, and position their campaigns as a core driver of growth.

How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your TV Ad

TV advertising can deliver significant results, but measuring its effectiveness requires a thoughtful approach. These steps will guide you in evaluating and optimizing your efforts.

Understand Your Target Audience

A successful TV campaign starts with knowing your audience. Who are you trying to reach, and what motivates them? Clear audience insights allow you to create relevant messages and accurately measure their impact.

Tip: Use available data—like website analytics, customer surveys, or social listening tools—to identify key demographics and preferences.

Set Goals and Relevant KPIs

Your TV ad strategy should align with specific business objectives. Whether you want to build brand awareness, boost website visits, or increase sales, clearly defined goals and KPIs are essential. Ensure you are choosing KPIs that directly tie to your objectives, such as:

Brand Awareness: Reach, frequency, and brand recall.
Engagement: Website traffic and social media mentions.
Conversions: Sales uplift and cost per acquisition (CPA).

Make Sure You’ve Spent Enough

Insufficient budget allocation can hinder a campaign’s effectiveness. TV campaigns require critical mass to produce measurable results, but how much is enough?

Tip: Start with benchmarks specific to your industry and audience size. Ensure your spend aligns with your desired reach and frequency goals.

Hone in on Cross-Channel Marketing Performance

TV doesn’t work in isolation—it drives results across other channels. To fully understand its impact, measure how TV influences search activity, social engagement, and ecommerce behavior.

Tip: Use tools that attribute actions like website visits or in-store traffic to your TV campaigns. Ensure you monitor spikes in digital activity post-airtime.

“No marketing spend exists in a vacuum, and each channel an advertiser leverages affects the customer journey. As such, advertisers need a holistic measurement framework that focuses on what each investment brings above-and-beyond the rest of the campaign. Within channels, this means an explicit focus on incrementality testing, and across channels, it necessitates a robust framework like MMM. Tinuiti has focused heavily on both of these elements, developing a complete incrementality playbook covering the full slate of Tinuiti-supported channels (TV included) as well as a rapid, incrementality-driven MMM with a focus on next-best-dollar recommendations.”
Harry Browne VP, TV, Audio, and Display Innovation at Tinuiti

Measure Micro, Macro, and Business Impacts

Effective measurement requires looking at your campaign from multiple angles:

Micro impacts: Immediate audience responses, such as searches or app downloads.
Macro impacts: Broader trends like shifts in brand perception or category interest.
Business impacts: Long-term outcomes like revenue growth and market share increases.

Develop frameworks to evaluate all three levels consistently, ensuring no aspect is overlooked.

Ensure You Have the Right Technology

Technology plays a pivotal role in measuring TV effectiveness, particularly as campaigns grow more complex. Even businesses without sophisticated tech setups can benefit from tools that simplify data collection and analysis. When choosing measurement solutions, consider:

The ability to accurately track viewer reach and engagement.
Privacy compliance and data security measures.
Integration capabilities with other marketing channels.

Bliss Point by Tinuiti is a platform designed for scalability and precision. It helps marketers analyze offline and online impact, ensuring privacy compliance while delivering actionable insights. Bliss Point is ideal for businesses aiming to maximize their TV campaign ROI by leveraging data-driven strategies.

Conclusion

Measuring the performance of TV ads—whether on linear or streaming platforms—has become a critical element of a successful marketing strategy. The days of relying solely on broad demographic insights are gone. Today, brands have access to sophisticated tools and techniques that provide actionable, granular data.

By understanding your audience, setting clear goals, and leveraging advanced measurement methods, you can turn TV advertising into a precision tool that drives real business impact. Embracing both traditional and modern metrics, alongside innovative solutions like Bliss Point by Tinuiti, enables you to capture a holistic view of your campaign’s effectiveness.

Ultimately, TV advertising isn’t just about reach, it’s about resonance. With the right strategy and insights, you can ensure your campaigns not only reach the right audience but also inspire action and deliver measurable results. Learn more about Bliss Point by Tinuiti here or contact us directly for more information.

Media Update: New CTV from The Trade Desk, TikTok Continues Fighting, New Google Search Data Arises

Jessica Lingle — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 14:53:00 +0000

Paid Media Updates

Media Update: New CTV from The Trade Desk, TikTok Continues Fighting, New Google Search Data Arises

By Tinuiti Innovation & Growth Team

Dec 12 2024

Key Highlights:

TV & Audio: The Trade Desk announced a new CTV OS, Ventura, which is set to compete directly with Roku.
Paid Social: The US Court of Appeal upholds the January 19th sell-or-ban deadline for TikTok, but TikTok plans to continue fighting.
Display & Programmatic: YouTube is the top destination for podcasting.
Search: New study reveals 15% of Google searches are driven by just 148 terms, highlighting the relatively low proportion of commercial intent and the need for AI-powered ad strategies to capture scarce transactional demand.
Ad Economy: Navigating AppLovin’s Complex Landscape, and DOJ vs. Google [2020] Enters Year Five.
Consumer Economy: American shoppers upped their outlays by ~3.5% over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, while consumer sentiment hit an eight-month high.

TV & Audio

Harry Browne VP Innovation

Sports and broadcast ratings saw a boost in the final week of November, bolstered by strong audiences for Thanksgiving NFL coverage. While the year has seen its spikes and dips – strong broadcast figures around the Olympics and surprisingly weak audiences in the run-up to the election – linear’s main theme of 2024 is decline, with entertainment audiences consistently down 15-20% year-over-year, evidence of ongoing cord-cutting.

1. While this newsletter took a brief sabbatical for Thanksgiving, the major players in the TV world took no such break. Just before the holiday, the Trade Desk (TTD) announced that it is building a new CTV operating system – Ventura. Named for TTD’s California headquarters, the new OS promises “a more intuitive, engaging user experience… a much cleaner supply chain for streaming TV advertising… [and] advances such as OpenPath and Unified ID 2.0.” The announcement was met with initial praise from some big names, with positive commentary coming from partners at Disney, Paramount, Tubi, and Sonos.

This development could represent a major shift in the CTV landscape. CTV operating systems are a backbone of the advertising ecosystem, as they help connect major publishers to viewers through their TVs. Currently, there are two major groups of operating systems: those exclusive to OEMs (such as Samsung’s Tizen, Vizio’s SmartCast, and LG’s WebOS) and those that can be licensed (such as Roku, Android TV, and Amazon Fire OS). Samsung and Roku have the deepest penetration in the US, each accessing ~50% of households.

Because TTD has stated it has “no intention of getting into the hardware business,” the launch of Ventura clearly positions the company against the licensable OS providers, especially Roku, whose stock took a beating the day of the announcement. That makes for an interesting tension, as TTD and Roku just this year announced a partnership to make Roku media and audience data available through the Trade Desk. As recently as September, TTD CEO Jeff Green insisted that his company did not want to compete with Roku, though the Ventura announcement somewhat obviously positions them to. Nonetheless, we should not get ahead of ourselves in analyzing the impact of this announcement on CTV; critically, more than half of US TVs are Samsungs or LGs, meaning they already come with a powerful CTV OS. Those OEMs are unlikely to adopt Ventura, meaning TTD will need to find alternative partners to leverage its OS. It’s possible those partners could be the Chinese manufacturers, though they represent a small percentage of US TVs. Alternatively, there could be a path with Vizio, whose acquisition by Walmart finally closed. Walmart has already demonstrated interest in UID2, and such a partnership could bolster Walmart’s position at the intersection of CTV and retail media (though we should not look past Vizio already having its own OS).

Overall, the launch of Ventura is a major development in the CTV landscape, but one whose impacts may take time to manifest after deeper negotiations with the OEMs. Trade Desk has already acknowledged other potential opportunities for Ventura, including hotels and airlines, so with some time, Ventura could truly have a broad impact across CTV and DOOH. That said, with lots of details still to be hashed out, advertisers do not yet need to adjust their investment allocations over to Trade Desk or away from Roku. Advertisers should feel reassured, however, that Tinuiti has long partnerships with both Trade Desk and Roku and has explicitly arranged to incorporate UID2 into our data spine, leaving us well prepared for any developments that arise from this announcement. | The Trade Desk, Variety, VisualCapitalist

2. The linear TV landscape has seen developments of its own, albeit ones that don’t generate as much positivity. In October, we noted that DirecTV and Dish were set to merge, potentially giving the two large satellite players a lifeline. Unfortunately for them, the Dish-DirecTV merger has since fallen apart, after Dish’s bond holders rejected a key debt exchange provision. EchoStar (the owner of Dish) claimed that Dish has room to grow on its own, but it is hard to view this development as anything other than a major setback. A key argument for the merger was the combined entity’s ability to negotiate favorable pricing for TV programming (recall that such “carriage fees” were at the heart of the DirecTV-Disney impasse earlier this year), and now both providers will have less leverage as they negotiate independently. As we said in October, this deal would not have changed the tough reality for linear, and neither will its abandonment. Overall, we can continue to expect steep declines in linear viewership as audiences become increasingly incentivized to switch to digital channels. | AdAge, WSJ

Jack Johnston Senior Director Innovation

The big news this week is that on Dec 6th, the US Court of Appeals upheld the law that could lead to a ban of TikTok if the platform does not sever ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance. The deadline for the sale or ban of TikTok is January 19th, 2025.

On the 9th, TikTok filed an injunction with the Supreme Court to postpone the deadline until the new administration takes over following President-elect Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. While TikTok is making efforts to overturn, or at least postpone, the ban, there are significant unknown variables here, even with the deadline falling just under 6 weeks from now. The good news for users and advertisers is that even if the ban is enacted, it doesn’t mean TikTok is disappearing.

The app will NOT disappear on January 19th, rather no new downloads or software updates will be allowed. For this reason, advertisers should expect contingency plans to be most useful beyond January, even as late as April. TikTok will also continue to operate in a business-as-usual manner outside of the United States, so advertisers who invest in TikTok inventory in Canada, Mexico, Europe, etc. should plan to continue their strategies as expected. For US advertisers, this is a moment of reflection and media contingency planning, and while it can feel like a scary prospect, there are so many unknown variables that the app could continue as normal just as easily as it could be banned on January 19th. There will be more developments over the coming weeks, so the best course of action is to operate normally and prepare contingency plans for February 2025, just as you would if your brand was managing a budget cut and needed to maximize returns out of other channels. | BBC, AP News

Display & Programmatic

Brian Binder Senior Director Innovation

The growing podcast industry is no longer just an audio experience—it’s becoming a visual one too, and YouTube is at the center of the evolution. As podcast popularity continues to rise, the demand for visual content is reshaping the medium. A study by Morning Consult revealed that 42% of US adults prefer watching video podcasts over exclusively listening to podcasts.

While platforms like Spotify have started to focus on video podcasting, YouTube has been leveraging its video prominence to capture the demand. A recent eMarketer study revealed that 53% of podcast audiences are now watching on YouTube. The popularity of video podcasting on YouTube isn’t surprising – its dominance in the video space, strong community features, and powerful recommendation engine make it ideal for attracting viewers and driving discovery of new podcasts with 32% of weekly listeners finding new shows on YouTube.

Podcasters have also leapt on this trend. Many top creators have a significant presence on YouTube, posting not only podcast content but also supplemental video content on their channels to engage their millions of subscribers.

This trend is becoming increasingly important for podcast advertisers, illustrating the importance of adding a strong mix of audio and video to drive deeper and more memorable brand experiences.

It also highlights a significant opportunity for advertisers to expand beyond traditional platforms and tap into YouTube’s vast ecosystem, targeting specific podcasts across YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and related user-generated content, amplifying reach. While YouTube’s measurement may lack the transparency of other podcast platforms, tools like brand lift, search lift, conversion lift, and Google’s attribution provide valuable insights to gauge impact effectively. | Marketing Charts, eMarketer, eMarketer

Search

Michelle Merklin VP of Paid Search Growth & Innovation

A new report from SparkToro found that 15% of total Google searches are driven by only 148 terms, most of which are navigational (ie: intent of finding a specific website or web page). Some of the highest volume queries include searches for “YouTube”, “Gmail”, and “Amazon”. The study found that 44% of Google searches are for branded terms (the rest generic), and overall intent behind search queries skews toward “informational” and “navigational”, with less “commercial” and very little purely “transactional” intent.

“People are gravitating to a smaller number of less diverse destinations and ideas,” says Rand Fishkin of SparkToro.

Since such a small pool of searches are purely transactional in nature, marketers are going to be increasingly reliant on leveraging AI technologies in search ads that provide additional intent-based signals. Targeting tactics like Broad Match keywords have access to countless signals beyond the search query itself, and should be supercharged by being paired with conversion-based bidding in order to steer the algorithm to only bid if it forecasts propensity to convert. In theory, this means these AI-powered ad solutions can find purchase intent even if the searcher is not necessarily typing queries that “sound” like they’ll convert.

These findings are a good reminder that search demand must be created through awareness and consideration tactics like TV, display and social media, in order to later be captured and converted in the lower funnel via search. | Search Engine Land

Ad Economy

Simon Poulton EVP Innovation

1. Last month, we highlighted the remarkable ascent of AppLovin within the mobile advertising space. With increasing interest from both advertisers and Wall Street, the platform shows strong potential for growth in 2025 as advertisers allocate larger budgets. However, before advertisers commit too heavily to AppLovin, it is critical to weigh its touted performance benefits against the platform’s transparency challenges and brand safety risks.

A major issue lies in AppLovin’s approach to brand safety. The platform allows ads to appear on any app within its network that meets App Store approval, yet it offers advertisers no visibility into the specific apps where their ads are shown. This lack of transparency, coupled with its AI-driven focus on “performance-based” placements, raises significant concerns, especially for larger brands aiming to avoid contentious associations. While App Store approvals mitigate the most overt brand safety risks seen in the open web, many apps (particularly games) feature political or adult themes that fall into a gray area, potentially creating challenges for advertisers as they seek to balance brand safety risks with performance.

Moreover, AppLovin’s optimization model prioritizes click-through rates, neglecting the importance of view-through data crucial for a comprehensive assessment of campaign performance. Until recently, the platform also lacked geo-specific exclusion capabilities, which are essential for measuring incremental lift. While these capabilities have been introduced, early studies from Haus suggest that while incremental performance improvements exist, new-to-file transaction incrementality (a key metric for many advertisers) may be significantly lower than broader incrementality metrics suggest, perhaps allowing for AppLovin’s performance to be more closely correlated with Remarketing tactics.

Adding to these concerns is skepticism about AppLovin’s differentiation in a crowded market. This uncertainty is mirrored in its stock performance, with the platform’s exclusion from the S&P 500 signaling waning investor confidence. As AppLovin continues to evolve, advertisers and investors are left questioning whether its performance promises outweigh its limitations in transparency and usability. | Twitter, The Street

2. As the United States vs. Google LLC (2020) case approaches its fifth year, the U.S. Department of Justice has proposed bold remedies to address Google’s alleged search engine monopoly. Key recommendations include requiring Google to divest its Chrome browser, banning exclusive agreements like its deal with Apple to be the default search engine in Safari, and mandating the sharing of search data with competitors. These measures aim to level the playing field, particularly in online search and advertising, by reducing Google’s dominance and fostering competition. The DOJ also seeks to prevent Google from preferentially placing its search engine on Android devices, signaling a significant shift in the tech giant’s operational freedoms.

Google has pushed back strongly, characterizing the DOJ’s proposals as “radical and sweeping” with potential to harm consumers, developers, and small businesses. The company argues that its services are chosen for their quality, not coercion, and warns that the proposed measures could stifle innovation and disrupt the seamless user experience it has cultivated. With stakes this high, the outcome of the case could set a precedent for how tech monopolies are regulated, balancing antitrust enforcement with maintaining the competitive edge of American technology.

The potential forced sale of a Google asset, such as Chrome or its search business, raises speculation about potential buyers. While FAANG companies are unlikely candidates due to antitrust concerns, The Trade Desk emerges as a plausible contender. With its focus on programmatic advertising and innovations like Unified ID 2.0, OpenPass, and a recently launched TV operating system, acquiring a Google asset could provide The Trade Desk with the scale it needs to compete more aggressively. However, such a consolidation would likely face regulatory scrutiny to ensure it diversifies the market rather than transferring monopolistic power, making the implications for competition, advertisers, and consumers significant. | DOJ, The Verge, Google

Consumer Economy

Sean Odlum CPO

1. We’ve frequently noted in these pages that the American consumer has remained in pretty rude health despite the economic gyrations (pandemic, inflation) of the past four years. That basic picture remained unchanged over the Thanksgiving holiday, when American shoppers upped their Black-Friday-through-Cyber-Monday spending by 3.5% over last year. This overall growth in spending reflected more dramatic dynamics in how people did their shopping – in-store sales rose by just 0.7%, while online sales rose by almost 15%.

Some have theorized that consumers are spending more now in anticipation of new tariffs promised by the incoming Trump administration. If enacted, such tariffs would raise consumer prices, creating an incentive to buy early; this may be one reason why overall holiday sales are projected to grow by 3.5% this year.

A notable trend this year was the record utilization of buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing. Shoppers spent just under $1 billion this way, a 5.5% increase over 2023. | NYT, eMarketer, Adobe

2. Right in line with these healthy BFCM shopping figures, the latest reading of consumer sentiment rose to its highest level since April, even though consumers are expecting higher prices over the coming year (per the piece above, this may be due to promises of new import tariffs).

We told you last time that political partisans hot-swapped their views of the economy in the wake of the election; Democrats’ sentiment plunged, while Republicans’ soared. That dynamic is borne out in this more recent data, which shows sentiment among Republicans now stands at a four-year high, while confidence among Democrats has dropped to a more than two-year low. Among political independents, sentiment rose to an eight-month high.

Consumers’ outlook for their personal finances fell to a five-month low in December, possibly indicating rising indebtedness associated with holiday shopping. | Bloomberg, WSJ

3. The health of the American consumer, as discussed above, is tightly linked with the health of the American labor market. And as the former prospers, it should be no surprise that the latter is looking healthy as well – November’s jobs report showed a strong rebound in hiring, with 227k jobs added, following October numbers that were depressed by major storms and labor strikes.

Despite the strong monthly figures, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, above the level it’s been at since the beginning of 2022.

The big question now is how this will all factor into the Fed’s interest rate decisions next week. With the Fed now in a rate-lowering cycle, there are two data points that may push in the other direction: the aforementioned robust job growth, which suggests the labor market is not depressed in any way; and the fact that the Fed’s preferred inflation measure remained elevated in October. Lowering rates could run the risk of re-accelerating inflation, which is the last thing the Fed would want to see. The market-implied probability of a 25-basis point cut stands at about 72%. | WSJ, NYT, Bloomberg

2024 Cyber Five Ad Trends: Black Friday and Cyber Monday Stats Across Google, Amazon, and Meta

Andy Taylor — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:41:18 +0000

Ecommerce

2024 Cyber Five Ad Trends: Black Friday and Cyber Monday Stats Across Google, Amazon, and Meta

By Andy Taylor

Dec 05 2024

The period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, known as the Cyber Five, is a clear mile marker to start holiday shopping for many consumers, and, as such, is a pivotal stretch for many marketers. Here we’ll take a look at some of the key trends that emerged from this year’s Cyber Five for Tinuiti clients under management, including how the shift in the timing of Thanksgiving impacted sales and ad pricing.

The following charts and figures are based on same-store growth for longstanding Tinuiti advertisers.

This post was coauthored by Mark Ballard and Andy Taylor.

Late Thanksgiving Sees Spike in Holiday Sales, while Consumers Spread Purchases over Cyber Week

With Thanksgiving coming a full five days later in 2024 than in 2023, consumers were less inclined to wait around until Black Friday to begin making a large share of their holiday purchases. Looking at retail purchases generated by Google search ads, sales growth jumped from 11% Y/Y in October to 20% Y/Y over the seven days before Thanksgiving. The median retailer then saw sales growth hit 29% on Thanksgiving Day itself, before returning to October levels on Black Friday.

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still significantly bigger sales days than the rest of Cyber Week, consumers have been spreading their Google-driven purchases out more in recent years. In 2023, order growth from Google search ads was strongest over Cyber Saturday and Sunday, while in 2024, those days were beaten only by the relatively late Thanksgiving Day. Cyber Monday sales growth did outpace the preceding weekend, however, due to stronger average order value (AOV) growth.

Average Order Value from Google Search Ads Down Over Most of Cyber Week

Again looking at performance from Google search ads, retailer sales growth over Cyber Week came despite modest declines in AOV on all days except for Cyber Monday.

Over early November and through the week before Thanksgiving retailers had seen AOV rise by a little under 6% Y/Y, which was up from an average of 3% growth in Q3. On Thanksgiving Day, though, AOV growth turned negative with Cyber Sunday seeing the largest decline of the week.

Google Advertisers Saw Less Competition from Temu, while Amazon Did Not Push the Gas

Looking at the presence of Amazon and Temu in Google Shopping ad auctions, it appears that the competitive landscape for the rest of Google’s retail advertising base may have been a bit more favorable this year than last.

Amazon’s average share of Google Shopping impressions took a big hit toward the end of Q3 but recovered at the beginning of Q4. In the weeks since, though, Amazon’s impression share has generally declined, including during the week of Thanksgiving.

This trend largely mirrors what Amazon’s competitors saw in 2023, but in 2021 and 2022, Amazon’s share of Google Shopping impressions was on the rise ahead of Thanksgiving as the retail giant got more aggressive in its stance in Google’s auctions at those times.

Maybe more significant than Amazon failing to make a big push in Google Shopping auctions yet has been Temu’s sharp decline as a competitor for Shopping impressions. At points in Q4 2023, Temu was second only to Amazon in the share of retailers seeing it as a competitor for Shopping impressions (as determined by Google’s Auction Insights Reports).

Over 2024, however, fewer brands are seeing Temu as a competitor for Google Shopping impressions and those that still do are seeing Temu at a minimal presence. The minimum impression share in Google’s Auction Insight reports is listed as “< 10%”, which is where the median Temu competitor sees Temu now.

Sales Attributed to Amazon Ads Surge the Week Before Thanksgiving

Amazon now promotes Black Friday deals a week before the big day, and growth in sales attributed to ads during the seven days before Thanksgiving has accelerated each of the last two years. In 2024, sales attributed to Sponsored Products were up 37% year over year for the week before Thanksgiving, topping growth on key days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This is at least partially a result of the change in how the calendar year fell in 2024, with the Cyber Five taking place nearly a week later than in 2023.

Advertisers also saw strong growth throughout the Cyber Five, with sales up 31% on Black Friday and 18% on Cyber Monday. The weakest growth came over the weekend, though Sponsored Products advertisers still averaged 13% sales growth over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

Amazon New-to-Brand Customer Share Rises Throughout November

Across both the Amazon Demand-side Platform (DSP) and Amazon Sponsored Brands, the share of purchases attributed to ads as new-to-brand rose throughout the month of November, and was significantly higher during the Cyber Five than earlier in the month. This is especially true for the DSP, which saw new-to-brand purchase share rise from 34% at the start of November to 65% on each of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

New-to-brand customers are defined by Amazon as those shoppers who have not purchased from the advertiser in at least twelve months. Marketers typically see new-to-brand customer share rise during key events like the Cyber Five and Prime Day, as well as in the final lead up to shipping cutoffs for Christmas delivery when shoppers increasingly purchase from new brands to get presents in time.

Meta Ads CPM Up Big Over the Holiday Weekend

Tinuiti Meta advertisers, most of which are retail/ecommerce brands, saw CPM climb by at least 11% on each day from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, with the biggest growth coming on Thanksgiving Day at 16%. For the full five-day period, CPM rose 12% year over year, far eclipsing the 3% CPM growth observed over the entirety of the Cyber Five last year.

Over the course of the first ten days of November, the ramp in Meta CPM compared to November 1 observed in 2024 was remarkably similar to that of 2023. However, CPM picked up more steam in the middle of the month in 2024 than in 2023, and advertisers saw CPM continue to climb for nearly a full extra week before Thanksgiving thanks to how the holiday fell this year compared to last.

Advertisers should expect pricing to come back closer to mid-November levels in the coming days.

Reels Video Ads Impression Share Soars Across Both Facebook and Instagram

Reels video ads continue to grow in importance for Meta advertisers across both Facebook and Instagram, and this was certainly clear when looking at how impression share for Reels has risen during the Cyber Five. Reels video ads share of Facebook impressions during the Cyber Five more than doubled from 2023 to 2024, while their share of Instagram impressions nearly topped 20% in 2024.

Combined with the fact that Reels overlay ads accounted for an additional 13.8% of Cyber Five Facebook ad impressions, it’s clear that Reels has become a crucial part of how marketers are reaching potential customers this holiday shopping season.

More than ¼ of Retail Meta Ad Dollars Went to Advantage+ Shopping During the Cyber Five

Retail advertisers spent 26% of all Meta investment on Advantage+ shopping campaigns (ASCs) between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Much like with Google Performance Max campaigns, ASCs are AI-powered campaigns which streamline some aspects of optimization.

While the 26% Cyber Five figure is a decline from the 34% spend share the campaign type held for the full third quarter, ASCs are still a substantial portion of many advertisers’ investment in Meta properties this holiday shopping season.

Thanks to the late timing of Thanksgiving, we’re already less than three weeks away from Christmas. Keep a look out for the Tinuiti Q4 2024 Digital Ads Benchmark Report in January to get a full accounting of how the holiday season shakes out for advertisers from here.

From Primetime to Podcasts: How Women’s Sports Are Reshaping Media

Emily Sullivan — Mon, 02 Dec 2024 17:18:22 +0000

TV & Audio

From Primetime to Podcasts: How Women’s Sports Are Reshaping Media

By Tinuiti Team

Dec 02 2024

This post was authored by Alicia Jewell, Director of Media Investment at Tinuiti.

The growth of women’s sports is a layered story that pairs long-term strategy with cultural momentum. Over the years, generations of fans have continued to advocate for equity for women athletes in their respective sports. These conversations were the catalyst for brands, leagues, and media networks to develop a game plan for growing equity of media coverage, increasing brand partnership commitments, and evolving media platforms.

The star power from athletes like Caitlin Clark, Ilona Maher, and Alex Morgan is amplifying these efforts, and establishing women’s sports leagues as essential stakeholders in the broader sports ecosystem. Together, these forces are shaping a future where women’s sports hold a permanent and influential position in the industry.

Women’s sports are not just a trend or “having a moment.” They are, by design, evolving the sports landscape – and in turn the media and advertising landscape. Category viewership is at an all-time high, and revenue generated by U.S. women’s sports in 2024 is set to exceed $1 billion for the first time, which is fueling new developments across the media landscape, particularly in audio. The surge of women’s sports isn’t stopping at traditional media channels, and clients have the opportunity to be innovators by tapping into the growth in places like podcasting.

Coverage Equity in Women’s Sports

Historically, the share of coverage for women’s sports hovered around 4%. The limited access to watching games, and lack of content around athlete storylines created barriers for fans to keep up with women’s sports.

But as of quite recently, networks are focusing on equity for holistic women’s sports coverage. This means, coverage and content on and off the field. Whether it’s shoulder programming, or year-around conversations, fans want more content. They want the highlight reels, the hot takes, the rumors, the history, the debates and the controversies, and all of this ultimately drives more fan engagement. Networks are prioritizing women’s sports on their broadcast lineups and giving women’s sports prime-time slots and high-profile marketing support. As of 2023, women’s sports coverage now sits at 15% (triple that of earlier figures!), and networks intend to keep narrowing the coverage gap between men’s and women’s sports.

Fan demand has dramatically helped drive this shift. According to a recent Nielsen report, 84% of sports fans express interest in watching more women’s sports on TV, pushing networks to respond with more comprehensive programming. Increased coverage doesn’t just meet demand; it also generates momentum, creating a feedback loop where more exposure leads to more fans, and more fans lead to higher revenue and more advertising opportunities for brands who want to align with this incredibly dynamic space.

Viewership Surge in Recent Years

As media coverage for women’s sports continues to grow, media networks are seeing a surge in viewership. Each round of 2024 NCAA Women’s March Madness saw viewership growth up 121% year-over-year overall and for the first time ever, the women’s title game drew more viewers than the men’s.

The viewership story doesn’t stop there. The National Women’s soccer league had a 17% boost in interest between 2023 and 2024, and England’s Women’s Super League jumped 52% after England won the 2022 EURO. The rise of viewership starts with loyal fans, and is boosted by equity in coverage. It highlights the importance of networks committing to broadcasting women’s sports, and the opportunity that brands have to connect with this growing audience.

How This is Evolving the Podcast Ecosystem

The expansion of women’s sports coverage has impacted more than just streaming or linear TV. Podcasts focusing on women’s sports are now surging, providing fans with year-round content and deeper engagement–and there’s no better way to invest fans into a storyline than through the podcast ecosystem. Podcasting is an intimate and personal medium that captivates listeners through the power of storytelling. This draws in advertisers, because podcast advertising can drive awareness, favorability, consideration, intent, and ultimately customer acquisition. A well-balanced podcast strategy will utilize personal endorsements, tailored creative content, and sophisticated audience targeting to act as a full-funnel marketing channel.

With this in mind, the audio format is a perfect fit for women’s sports. Streaming audio offers brands a way to connect with fans in a personal and immersive way, capitalizing on the cultural rise of women’s sports. The podcast network ecosystem is embracing the evolution and investing into women’s sports content to make their portfolio more inclusive. iHeart recently announced Women’s Sports Audio Network, a first-ever audio platform dedicated exclusively to women’s sports. Other networks are also investing in women’s sports like The Athletic, Dear Media, and VOX to name a few. Shows like The GIST highlight the stories, challenges, and triumphs of women athletes, filling gaps left by broadcast coverage. Many advertisers are now investing in both TV and podcast ads, amplifying their messages across platforms.

Why This Is Important

From an industry perspective, this shift is diversifying the sports marketplace, and unlocking access for brands to reach a loyal and growing fan base. It is an important cultural shift that is highlighting the value that women’s sports can bring to the social and cultural ecosystem. As broadcast distribution increases, more fans have access to games, and in turn more brands are investing in reaching those fans with significant buying power.

While this is significant for the industry, this is bigger than ad revenue, and bigger than brands connecting with consumers. The momentum of women’s sports is carving the path for future women athletes and inspiring generations to come. Women’s sports promote gender equality, and empower women to continue challenging gender norms to stimulate change.

“Brands have the opportunity right now to be part of a huge cultural movement in sports. Not only do advertisers gain access to a loyal and affluent fan base, but they have the opportunity to contribute to an important shift in the marketplace. Together, support from brands and broadcasters creates a synergistic effect that enables sustainable growth for women’s sports. Within our media recommendations, we continue to advocate for women’s sports to ensure that our clients know that the space is accessible, can provide massive reach, and ultimately drive incredible return on investment.”
Alicia Jewell Director of Media Investment at Tinuiti

Conclusion

The rise of women’s sports is transforming the media landscape, driving unprecedented ad revenue on TV while also reshaping the audio ecosystem. This shift underscores the importance of coverage equity, not only for its economic benefits but for its role in societal progress. For brands and advertisers, the rapid growth of women’s sports presents a unique opportunity to engage with passionate, loyal audiences, in an authentic way. Audio, and particularly podcasts, offers an ideal environment to extend this connection with its ability to shape a story, and spark conversation.

As consumption continues to grow, the momentum around women’s sports shows no sign of slowing. Brands are harnessing the power of women’s sports through both traditional and emerging media channels and taking a stance that has a positive impact on the space, as well as their own business outcomes.

At Tinuiti, we’re on the cutting edge of emerging media, helping brands navigate the evolving landscape of TV & audio streaming, and so much more. Learn more about our audio and streaming solutions here or contact us today for more information.

Unlocking AMC Insights Series: A Deep Dive into New-to-Brand (NTB) Analysis

Emily Sullivan — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:18:10 +0000

Amazon

Unlocking AMC Insights Series: A Deep Dive into New-to-Brand (NTB) Analysis

By Averie Lynch

Nov 27 2024

In today’s data-driven marketing landscape, the ability to ask the right questions is paramount.

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) emerges as the magic 8-ball of advertising solutions, offering advertisers a robust platform for precise analytics and strategic decision-making. If you’re new to AMC, it’s a secure, privacy-friendly, dedicated cloud-based measurement and analytics solution introduced in 2021.

This article is part of a series where we dive into specific AMC use cases. We’ve previously written about:

Using Media Overlap Analysis for enhanced conversions
Using Tentpole Analysis for seasonal strategies
Examples and trips for AMC’s Audience Builder tool
Refining full-funnel marketing strategies with the Path to Purchase report

In this installment, we focus on the New-to-Brand (NTB) analysis, guiding you through utilizing this report to address critical business questions, pinpoint key metrics, and strategically apply derived insights. Let’s get started.

What is the NTB Analysis?

The NTB Analysis enables you to compare new-to-brand behaviors across ad types, products, and ad-attribution windows. Customers are considered to be new-to-brand if they purchase from your brand for the first time during the previous 365 day period. Use the NTB Analysis to:

Evaluate which campaigns types are most effective at driving new customer growth
Evaluate the performance of your promoted ASINs’ ability to attract new customers
Compare the Customer Lifetime Value across different ad-attribution windows

Multiple reports are available to help answer key business questions about NTB customer behaviors. Understanding how to apply NTB tactics effectively is essential for scaling your business and achieving incremental growth.

Here are a few examples of the types of questions the New-to-Brand analysis addresses:

How effective are your campaigns with reaching new-to-brand (NTB) customers?
Of all the ad-attributed purchases, how much and what percentage of them are new-to-brand (NTB) purchases vs. repeat purchases?
What is the impact of campaigns in terms of generating NTB purchases?
What is long-term customer value when moving beyond 14-day ad-attributed metrics such as return on ad spend (ROAS)?

Helpful Reports to Answer the Above Questions:

Gateway ASIN Analysis

The Gateway ASIN analysis shows which products drive the most NTB purchases. The report provides the top converting ASINs from a NTB perspective. To enhance campaign strategies, advertisers can look at the Gateway ASIN analysis to find which ASINs should be promoted with creative to maximize conversion among NTB purchasers.

To use this query, advertisers must have promoted ASIN that resulted in ad-attributed purchases on Amazon. If you have pixel conversions only, this query is not suitable for your use case.

NTB by Ad Type

The NTB by ad type report compares performance across Amazon ad types. This query returns the ad type and the corresponding count of all customers who made a purchase, count of NTB customers and percentage of NTB customers. Advertisers can compare the NTB percentage across ad types to find which ones are most effective for driving growth. For instance, one might find that Amazon Sponsored Display campaigns result in a higher percentage of NTB customers compared to Amazon Sponsored Products ads.

To use this query, your ASINs must be tracked to campaigns. Campaigns used in this query should have the goal of reaching both new and existing customers. Campaigns should target both new and existing customers, instead of one customer type exclusively, for example only existing customers or only customers who never purchased.

NTB Purchases

The NTB Purchases report demonstrates the impact of campaigns on generating NTB purchases compared to repeat purchases. Advertisers can find which campaign type(s) is best for generating repeat purchases versus which campaign type(s) is best for generating NTB purchases. Advertisers can refine their target audience around their campaign goals. If goals are focused around incremental growth, advertisers can focus their media mix on campaigns most effective at driving NTB purchases.

To use this query, your ASINs must be tracked to campaigns. Campaigns used in this query should preferably have the goal of reaching both new and existing customers.

Comparing NTB Performance Across Other AMC Reports

Advertisers can look at reports such as the Media Overlap Analysis and the Path to Purchase Analysis in terms of NTB performance. This perspective can help identify which media mix is most effective for attracting NTB customers. Advertisers can build a stronger media mix for achieving their growth goals.

Flexible Shopping Insights

Flexible Shopping Insights (FSI) includes non ad-attributed conversions to capture a more comprehensive view of a customer’s value. Advertisers can compare the value of NTB versus existing customers with extended ad-attribution dates to provide a wider perspective on long-term customer value. The results of the analysis can drive strategic media buying decisions, providing recommendations on where to invest dollars depending on campaign goals. Once established, AMC audiences can be created to target the customer segment that best suits those goals.

A subscription is required to access Flexible Shopping Insights. Advertisers must have customer ASIN purchases on the Amazon ecommerce site (for example, amazon.com) to query the dataset.

AMC Audience Use Cases

AMC audience segments can be utilized to target NTB customers. For example, the High value NTB Audience segment targets shoppers who organically viewed a brand’s products within the last X amount of days but have not seen an ad. The lookback window can and should be customized depending on the product lifecycle. Account for products with a longer lifecycle with longer lookback dates and vice versa. This audience is available as a template located in Amazon’s IQL (Instruction Query Library). No coding is necessary to utilize this audience segment.

AMC’s NTB Analysis: Key Takeaways and Next Steps for Enhanced Conversions

AMC’s NTB analysis highlights the impact of advertising on NTB behaviors. NTB reports can be used to guide growth strategies around:

Products
Budgets
Customer Lifetime Value

By building AMC audiences around NTB customers, advertisers can target more precise segments for higher returns and engagement. The use of NTB tactics expands a brand’s customer base, increases market share, and reaches untapped segments, which leads to sustainable, long-term growth.

“We use the NTB analysis to understand the most effective ways to reach and discover NTB customers. These insights inform our strategies across campaign considerations from budget allocation to audience targeting, ensuring efficient and scalable growth.”
Matt Harris Senior Strategist, Commerce Media at Tinuiti

If you have questions about NTB analysis or any other AMC use cases, reach out to Tinuiti today.

Maximize Your Holiday Sales: Get Your TikTok Shop Ready for the Big Holiday Push

Emily Sullivan — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 16:14:37 +0000

Social

Maximize Your Holiday Sales: Get Your TikTok Shop Ready for the Big Holiday Push

By Tinuiti Team

Nov 26 2024

If you’re wondering whether TikTok is the right place to sell your products this holiday season, consider this: TikTok’s influence on shopping behavior is undeniable, with over 75% of users reporting that they’ve discovered new brands on the platform, and over 40% saying they’ve made purchases directly through the app. During last year’s holiday season, brands saw up to a 10x increase in gross merchandise volume (GMV) on Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone.

TikTok has redefined shopping by merging the joy of discovery with ecommerce and creating a one-of-a-kind experience for both shoppers and sellers. This holiday season, TikTok is offering brands in categories like beauty, fashion, and lifestyle a unique opportunity to reach millions of engaged, deal-hunting shoppers through campaigns like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and December’s Holiday Haul. From in-app ad placements to co-funded discounts and creator partnerships, TikTok Shop makes it easy to stand out in a crowded holiday marketplace.

Let’s dive into how you can make the most of TikTok’s holiday opportunities to capture new audiences and drive sales this season.

Step 1: Register Your Products and Plan Your Inventory

Product Registration: Choose What’s Likely to Go Viral

Registering early can make a huge difference, especially when selecting products that resonate with TikTok’s unique, trend-driven culture. But how do you choose which products to showcase?

Here are some tips:

Start with Seasonal Best-Sellers: Look at your previous seasonal sales data. Products that traditionally perform well during the holidays are a safe bet, as they already have an established demand.
Analyze TikTok Trends: Explore TikTok’s “For You” page and hashtags related to your industry (like #BeautyTok, #FashionTok, #GiftIdeas) to see what types of products are getting traction. TikTok’s audience loves items that feel fresh, aesthetic, or offer clever solutions—think viral beauty gadgets, unique apparel items, or products with strong “before and after” appeal.
Leverage Influencer Insights: TikTok creators often know what’s trending before the mainstream does. Partnering with influencers or simply following those in your niche can help you identify trending items with the potential to go viral. Some creators even showcase “Top Finds” or “Holiday Must-Haves” which can serve as inspiration for which products to prioritize.
Consider the “Giftability” Factor: During the holidays, items with gift potential tend to perform well. Products that are affordable, easy to share, or that feel special (like limited editions or bundles) attract TikTok’s holiday shoppers looking for the perfect gift.

With registration deadlines for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in early November, and Holiday Haul registrations open until mid-November, ensure these top products are registered early to maximize visibility.

Inventory Planning: Prepare for Demand Surges

Once you’ve registered the right products, make sure you’re stocked up to meet demand. Many sellers see significant sales uplifts—often up to 10x or more—during holiday promotions, so having enough inventory on hand is essential. Consider your past holiday sales data, as well as TikTok’s strong potential for rapid sales spikes, to estimate stock levels. By planning early, you’ll be ready to capture as much of the holiday traffic as possible without running out of inventory.

Step 2: Engage Customers with Strategic Discounts and Deals

For budget-conscious holiday shoppers, nothing beats a great deal. TikTok Shop offers multiple co-funded discount opportunities, allowing you to attract customers with seasonal savings. However, to participate in these TikTok-funded discounts, sellers need to meet specific requirements and register their deals in advance.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Discounts

Sellers can opt into various discount tiers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with TikTok co-funding up to 30% off select items. Here’s how to participate:

Register Products with Discount Tiers: Sellers need to select products they want to discount and register them under specific discount tiers, like flash sales or category-specific deals, in TikTok’s Seller Center.
Meet Discount Requirements: To qualify for co-funding, sellers must offer discounts within TikTok’s specified ranges and ensure that their promotional prices meet or exceed the minimum discount percentage required.
Follow Registration Deadlines: Sellers must register for these discount programs by early November to be eligible for TikTok’s co-funded support during the holiday campaign period.

Flash sales and coupons work particularly well on TikTok, where users are drawn to time-sensitive, impulse-buy opportunities. These co-funded discounts can help drive quick conversions by making your products competitively priced and highly visible.

Holiday Haul (December 3–12) Discounts

During the Holiday Haul campaign, sellers can offer a 20% discount on orders over $69, with TikTok co-funding part of the discount. Here’s how to set it up:

Register by the November Deadline: Sellers need to enroll in the Holiday Haul discount program through TikTok’s Seller Center, selecting the 20% discount tier to activate the promotion.
Prepare Products for Discount: Ensure that your discounted items are tagged correctly and meet the “giftable” appeal, such as beauty kits, apparel bundles, or any item that makes a convenient holiday gift.
Align with Bundle and Order Requirements: The 20% discount applies to bundled or multi-item orders over $69, so sellers should consider promoting items that work well together or highlighting “gift set” options to encourage higher cart values.

By registering for these co-funded deals and following TikTok’s discount requirements, sellers can boost their product’s visibility and attract deal-seeking holiday shoppers ready to buy. Co-funding allows the seller to split the cost of the discount with TikTok so everybody wins.

Step 3: Utilize TikTok’s Content Features to Reach New Audiences

One of the greatest advantages of TikTok Shop is its ability to make content shoppable, and this is especially powerful during the holiday season. Here’s how you can make the most of TikTok’s content features:

Short Video Challenge: TikTok’s hashtag campaigns, such as #TikTokShopBlackFriday and #TikTokShopHolidayHaul, encourages sellers to create and share short, engaging videos around campaign themes. With trending hashtags and TikTok’s algorithm at work, these videos can reach broad audiences and generate both visibility and conversions. A single video could capture hundreds or thousands of views, sparking interest and awareness for your products.

Livestream Shopping: For brands that want to go deeper, TikTok’s Livestream Championship provides another level of engagement. Hosting a livestream during peak days (December 3-12) lets you show off products in real time, answer questions, and create a more personal shopping experience. Livestream hosts that meet certain sales thresholds may even qualify for rewards like Promote coupons, further incentivizing participation.

Creator Collaborations: TikTok Shop also facilitates connections with influencers, letting brands partner with content creators to amplify their campaigns. Engaging with TikTok creators who resonate with your target audience adds authenticity and reach, helping you tap into new customer segments who value recommendations from trusted voices.

Step 4: Plan Your Marketing Timeline and Build Excitement

Timing is essential when it comes to promoting holiday deals on TikTok. A well-planned marketing timeline can build anticipation and drive traffic to your shop on the biggest shopping days of the year.

Tease Promotions Early: Use social media channels and teaser content on TikTok to get your audience excited. Short videos hinting at discounts or highlighting top products are excellent for building hype and reminding your followers to check back for deals.

Peak Days and Hashtag Use: The biggest shopping days of TikTok’s holiday campaigns align with Black Friday (November 24), Cyber Monday (November 27), and the Holiday Haul peak days (December 3-12). Posting during these times and using holiday-themed hashtags can boost your discoverability and ensure your products are surfacing when shoppers are actively looking for deals.

Use TikTok’s “Shop Tab” and Product Tags: Make sure your products are tagged correctly so they appear in the TikTok Shop tab. TikTok uses campaign-exclusive tags to spotlight registered products, which can attract extra traffic and conversions.

Step 5: Optimize for Holiday Shoppers’ Needs

To convert shoppers, your TikTok Shop should be optimized for a seamless shopping experience.

Enhance Product Listings: High-quality images, clear descriptions, and user-generated content (like reviews or videos) all contribute to trust and can increase conversion rates. Consumers want confidence in their purchases, so ensuring your product pages are optimized can make all the difference.

Plan for Efficient Fulfillment: Holiday shoppers are often under a time crunch, so ensuring efficient fulfillment and competitive shipping policies can set you apart. Leveraging TikTok Shop’s co-funded free shipping or setting up quick delivery options may help win over last-minute shoppers.

Ready to Make the Most of TikTok Shop this Holiday Season?

Setting up for TikTok’s holiday campaigns requires preparation, but the potential payoff can be substantial. By taking these steps—registering products early, offering appealing discounts, engaging through shoppable content, and planning a solid marketing timeline—you’ll be well-positioned to reach TikTok’s holiday shoppers and drive seasonal sales.

This holiday season, let TikTok Shop be more than just a platform—it can be your gateway to reaching new audiences and creating memorable, shoppable experiences. So, get started, tap into TikTok’s holiday magic, and make this season a standout for your brand.

Tinuiti is certified as a TikTok Shop Partner, making our agency a one-stop solution for brands interested in selling on the platform. Looking for more information on TikTok Shop or ready to get started? Contact us today.

Tinuiti

Media Update: Social Commerce Movement, AI Advancements, Tariff Impact on Consumer Prices

Media Update: Social Commerce Movement, AI Advancements, Tariff Impact on Consumer Prices

Key Highlights

TV & Audio

Paid Social

Display & Programmatic

Search

Ad Economy

Consumer Economy

You Might Be Interested In

Media Update: Netflix Subscription Fees, TikTok Returns, T-Mobile Acquisition

Media Update: Disney-Fubo Agreement, YouTube Pilot Feature, Holiday Shopping Increases

Media Update: New CTV from The Trade Desk, TikTok Continues Fighting, New Google Search Data Arises

Media Update: Election Effects on Privacy & Data, Ads on Threads, Influence of Creators

Media Update: Fractured Streaming Landscape, Meta AI, Apple Enhancements and Healthy Macro Trends

Media Update: Vizio & ACR Data, Meta Brand Safety, and the Attention Metric Debate

Media Update: DirecTV and Dish Merger, Meta & Snap AR, TikTok Search Campaigns Available

Media Update: Election-Driven CTV Spend Surge, Snap’s AI-Powered Spotlight, and Google Faces Antitrust Pressure

Media Update: DirecTV-Disney Dispute, Snapchat Sponsored Snaps, and Google’s Video Action Campaign Deprecation

Media Update: Streaming Struggles for WBD & Paramount, Meta’s Algorithm Overhaul, and Walmart’s Ad Sales Surge

Media Update: Netflix Subscription Fees, TikTok Returns, T-Mobile Acquisition

Media Update: Netflix Subscription Fees, TikTok Returns, T-Mobile Acquisition

Key Highlights:

TV & Audio

Paid Social

Display & Programmatic

Search

Ad Economy

Consumer Economy

You Might Be Interested In

Media Update: Social Commerce Movement, AI Advancements, Tariff Impact on Consumer Prices

Media Update: Disney-Fubo Agreement, YouTube Pilot Feature, Holiday Shopping Increases

Media Update: New CTV from The Trade Desk, TikTok Continues Fighting, New Google Search Data Arises

Media Update: Election Effects on Privacy & Data, Ads on Threads, Influence of Creators

Media Update: Fractured Streaming Landscape, Meta AI, Apple Enhancements and Healthy Macro Trends

Media Update: Vizio & ACR Data, Meta Brand Safety, and the Attention Metric Debate

Media Update: DirecTV and Dish Merger, Meta & Snap AR, TikTok Search Campaigns Available

Media Update: Election-Driven CTV Spend Surge, Snap’s AI-Powered Spotlight, and Google Faces Antitrust Pressure

Media Update: DirecTV-Disney Dispute, Snapchat Sponsored Snaps, and Google’s Video Action Campaign Deprecation

Media Update: Streaming Struggles for WBD & Paramount, Meta’s Algorithm Overhaul, and Walmart’s Ad Sales Surge

Google Performance Max: Ad Examples & Tips

Google Performance Max: Ad Examples & Tips

What is Google Performance Max?

Why Use Performance Max?

How It Works

Who Should Use Performance Max?

Insights and Reporting

Download The 2025 Full-Funnel Marketing Guide:

Key Elements & Specs for Performance Max Campaigns

1. Headlines

2. Long Headlines

3. Descriptions

4. Images & Logos

5. Logos

6. Videos

7. Call-to-Action (CTA)

8. Audience Signals

9. Final URL

10. Search Themes

Best Practices when Setting Up a Performance Max Campaign

Give Performance Max campaigns freedom to function as intended

Implement audience signals to set automated targeting up for speedy success

Decide if you’ll use Final URL expansion

Decide whether the New Customer Acquisition goal is right for you

Define Asset Groups

Don’t turn off your Search campaigns

Consider brand safety

Tinuiti’s Google Performance Max Approach

1. Adopt an Audience-First Approach

2. Optimize Your Creative

3. Control Your Product Feed Levers

4. Tinuiti’s Enhanced Performance Max Reporting

Conclusion

You Might Be Interested In

Digital Ads Benchmark Report Q4 2024

2024 Cyber Five Ad Trends: Black Friday and Cyber Monday Stats Across Google, Amazon, and Meta

The 2025 Full-Funnel Marketing Guide

The 15-Minute Breakdown: Five Big Bets for 2025

Tinuiti’s Big Bets for the CMO in 2025