Monthly Brandtech Blend – June 2022

Netflix forced to pivot to ads faster than expected!

It is no longer a question of whether Netflix will turn to ads but more a question of when…

After years of standing firmly against the no-ads model concept, it seems that Netflix has been forced to turn towards the AVOD ecosystem following a loss of 200,000 subscribers in Q1 – a first for Netflix in over a decade. Whilst it seemed the streaming platform would not start integrating ads to its business model until 2024, it may do so before the end of 2022!

Another change at Netflix? It seems the streaming platform is putting an end to password sharing. Another strategy to bounce back following the fall of subscribers? Rumor has it that 100 million households watch Netflix for free thanks to shared passwords. Netflix is in fact looking into how they can start monetizing those households.

So what is the future of the king of streaming platforms? For now, nothing is certain but it seems that Netflix is charting a different course as to its revenue diversification model.

Read more about it in martech and The Verge.

Meta gives access to its political ad targeting data

A step in the right direction on the part of Meta: on May 23, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta announced it would be giving academic researchers access to its targeting information for social issues, electoral and political ads at the end of the month. This data will be available through the Facebook Open Research and Transparency (FORT) project. Meta is also making its Ad Library tool, first launched in 2018, generally accessible. Anyone accessing the Ad Library is able to see any Facebook Page ad from the recent past. Meta is now adding additional information on how Pages are using more sensitive targeting options. 

The social media giant has been facing pressure to provide greater transparency around its targeted advertising for a number of years, particularly after the Cambridge Analytics scandal. While Meta has shut down various social media monitoring tools in the past, its decision to now disclose more data indicates a move towards working with academic researchers, rather than blocking them. This does not mean, however, that all malpractice will cease – such as advertisers discriminating against specific groups while targeting others – but there will be greater transparency on how the tools are being used by different users to target their messages. 

And to finish with a bonus for the general marketeer: you may gain useful information on how other brands are targeting specific audiences!

Read more about it in Forbes, SocialMediaToday, The Drum and Reuters.

TikTok has been busy this month wanting to appeal both to talent creators and to brand marketers

It is now TikTok’s turn to enter the subscription market, following on from Twitch and Instagram. Social platforms are competing to attract creator talent by paying creators directly to post original content on their apps. Paid subscriptions can provide creators with a more regular income, a key to attracting creator talent.

TikTok launched its beta testing LIVE program on May 26 with a selected number of creators – from game streamers to artists and beauty experts. Creators will have the option of using a ‘subscriber-only’ version of their LIVE streams and only paid subscribers will be able to comment. It is not yet known how much the subscription will actually cost nor what cut of the revenue TikTok will take, but it is expected to be similar to Twitch’s model. 

TikTok has also been looking at ways to help brands optimize their marketing strategies. It is extending its Marketing Partner Program, originally launched in 2020, by partnering with a number of social media management platforms including Hootsuite and Emplifi amongst others. Thanks to these partnerships, marketers will be able to manage their TikTok accounts alongside their third-party content marketing platforms. According to TikTok’s Head of Ecosystem Partnerships Melissa Yang, marketers will be able “to regularly publish content, gain valuable performance insight and meaningfully engage with their communities”. 

Read more about it in Tech Crunch, The Verge, Tech Crunch and Martechvibe.