LinkedIn Premium Publishers : How Will Help Push Subscriber Revenue?
LinkedIn wants to expand the number of individuals who pay for premium membership, and it believes that allowing access to paywalled content from premium publishers might contribute.
According to sources the Microsoft–owned social network discreetly started a trial initiative called LinkedIn Premium News last month, which provides LinkedIn Premium members enhanced access to content published by sites that employ Piano’s paywall technology.
Piano, one of the leading paywall providers in the media, has clients such as Gannett, Axel Springer, and Le Parisien, as well as Digiday Media.
According to a third source familiar with the initiative, the program, which started with fewer than a dozen publishers, is still growing, with additional publishers expected to join in the coming weeks.
This pilot program provides LinkedIn Premium users with five credits per month that they may spend to open paywalled material they find on LinkedIn and view on publisher websites.
For those publishers who choose to participate, LinkedIn plans to offer them a steady stream of highly qualified leads for their own subscription products in exchange for more access to paywalled coverage.
LinkedIn will not take part in any subscription revenue generated by the leads created by the pilot program.
A LinkedIn spokesperson commented –
( The program) aligns with our efforts to help publishers reach the right audience and build a community around their content. (The project is intended) to drive value for members and publishers on and off LinkedIn
Over the last few years, publishers have been increasingly cautious of platforms. However, a small percentage of publishers say LinkedIn has a significant impact on their businesses, despite the fact that its overall impact on the publishing landscape is minor; according to Parsely data, LinkedIn is currently outside the top ten sources of referral traffic to publishers’ websites.
Instagram’s Reels, Tik-Tok’s Clone, Is Now For 60 seconds Long
Instagram Reels doubled the previous time- limit of 30 seconds and added functionality for a caption sticker.
Now, you can record Reels up to one minute long. Instagram announced that the Reels time limit is doubled to 60 seconds for all users.
Reels. up to 60 secs. starting today. pic.twitter.com/pKWIqtoXU2
— Instagram (@instagram) July 27, 2021
Within a month of its launch, Instagram extended Reels from 15 to 30 seconds. Recently, Tik Tok expanded its time limit to 3-minute, and YouTube Shorts also has a 60 second time limit, so it was unsurprising for Instagram to follow the trend. However, it is wise for Instagram to expand Reels to 60-second as it gives creators more capacity to work with.
It is mainly useful for creators who repurpose the same posts that they are uploading on TikTok or other competitor’s apps to grow their following across multiple platforms. Cross-posting is beneficial to the creators but also to Instagram, as it gives more content for Reels.
ProTip: Instagram’s algorithm doesn’t promote cross-posting content with a TikTok watermark, as it will affect your reach.
Instagram also added functionality for a caption sticker on Reels. It converts audio to text making for people who want to enjoy the Reels without sound. However, this is available only in a handful of English-speaking countries but Instagram plans to expand to other countries and languages soon.
Credit: Adweek
TikTok Brand Lift Study And How It Amps Up TikTok Experience!
TikTok has recently announced that it is introducing TikTok Brand Lift Study (BLS), a first-party measurement solution for advertisers.
The company believes that brands play a vital part in the whole TikTok experience. To make sure that resources are fully utilized, TikTok BLS assists to liberate advertisers with actionable data to move, enhance, and segment resources into meaningful campaigns and efforts.
TikTok has devised this new TikTok BLS, as the company believes, that it has witnessed the collective power of community over and again – whether it is in form of top hits, creating viral trends, or an increase in demand for popular products.
TikTok BLS offers businesses a novel way to traditional measurement and optimization of brand resonance.
TikTok BLS, in typical TikTok fashion, is an immersive, in-feed polling experience with the music and motion graphics that TikTok users have come to expect and adore.
TikTok BLS allows brand partners to use strict experimentation to understand and quantify the effectiveness of their ads. Brands can have a greater understanding of awareness, attitudes, favorability, and intent.
TikTok also says that as they continue to offer excellent brand lift performance, companies can be confident in making data-driven campaign decisions while building brand affinity on the platform.
Furthermore, TikTok has also announced that Kantar will be their third-party verification measurement partner of the TikTok BLS. The company believes that to uphold its mission of maintaining transparency, it provides advertisers with the options to fully comprehend their ad campaign value.
Nicole Jones, Senior Vice President, Growth & Strategy, Media & Content at Kantar said-
“We know from Kantar’s Media Reactions study that TikTok is the platform on which consumers globally feel they have the best advertising experience, so it’s critical for advertisers and their agencies to understand what works on the platform,”
Jones also added that they are excited to be TikTok’s third-party verification partner to aid advertisers to gain value from their marketing efforts.
TikTok says that with TikTok Brand Lift Study, brands can gain insights on how to effectively reach and interact with the communities that matter the most to them.
All About “Baaz”- World’s First Exclusive Arabic Social Media Platform.
The beta version of the first Arabic social media platform “Baaz” was launched. The platform created in the Arab world for the Arab world targets the audiences in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and is characterized by providing features that are culturally relevant to the Arab user as well as enjoyable at the same time.
The Salient Features Of Baaz
Baaz has various features but the most prominent is augmented reality (AR) technologies that allow users to test a set of visual effects in harmony with facial movements. It provides an exclusive series of avatars that embody famous Arab personalities or have Arab features. This is an addition to the ‘Explore section’ of the platform where users can browse famous and interactive photos and videos based on their interests ranging from comedy, video gaming, travel, and more. Baaz CEO Hamda Khochtali said,
At “Baaz”, we will ensure that the designs of our products are simple so that they remain the closest and easiest for users to understand.”
It targets the digital-savvy young generation whose knowledge of the digital world and technology is growing. Baaz is the perfect tool for those looking to connect with the outside world and share their ideas.
Baaz: The Game-Changer For The Arab Audience
Baaz uses the most advanced tools and methods and adopts the latest encryption technology, which complies with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). CEO Khochtali emphasized that the social media platform aims to meet the demand of Arabic language users, focus on Arabic content as well as be user safe and friendly.
“Since the beginning of this year, we have worked to adapt to the requirements of the Arab user, and we made sure that the product is based on three basic points, that it is Arabic, safe, and simple, meaning easy to use. Arabic, because we really need an Arabic platform that understands us and our needs, a platform that looks like us.And, Safe because the Arab user is tired with fake accounts and fake news.And to be simple, because a large number of features and effects, does not necessarily mean meeting the aspirations of users.”
In its first of its kind experience, Baaz provides the easiest and fastest process to users that verifies accounts instantly and ensures a safe environment for users. The “verified” account holder has access to all tools and features and can prevent unverified users to comment or interact on their post. On the other hand “unverified” accounts are classified as virtual. They have access to dozens of avatars, filters, and virtual backgrounds as well as can verify accounts anytime.
CEO Khochtali stated that the goal is “not to rival Facebook and Instagram” as there is no Arabic competition.
“We do not have a competitor at the moment in the Arab world. We aim for “Baaz” to be among the three most used platforms in the Middle East and North Africa within the next few years, and to be distinguished by our proximity and deep understanding of the Arab user. We are from you and to you.”
Baaz is currently working with the most prominent digital content creators in the Arab world, especially from Lebanon, Tunisia, Jordan, and Palestine to provide exclusive content on the platform. This will enhance user experience and serve the aspirations of Arab audiences. It also looks forward to gradually expand to other Arab markets and work tightly with more startups, developers, content creators, illustrators, and artists.
Trump Praises Tik Tok Deal As ‘Fantastic’ With Oracle and Walmart
Key Points
- In the eleventh hour, Tik Tok averted a shutdown in the U.S after President said he has given his blessing to a deal with Oracle and Walmart.
- The deal announced by the companies would create a new company Tik Tok Global that will be headquartered in the U.S.
- Silicon Valley giant Oracle will become a minority investor with a 12.5% stake in Tik Tok Global and a cloud partner.
- Tentatively, Walmart will own a 7.5 % stake in Tik Tok Global as a commercial partner and CEO Doug McMillonwould would serve as one of the five board members.
- Tik Tok’s Chinese parent company Byte Dance will own the remaining 80% of Tik Tok Global.
Tik Tok successfully averted the app store ban in the eleventh hour, with President Trump giving preliminary approval to the landmark deal with Oracle and Walmart. Meanwhile, the U.S judge issued a ruling early Sunday morning to block the WeChat ban.
Background:
In August, Trump had issued an executive order to face a ban if Tik Tok U.S operations were not sold to an American company by September 20, owing to its data privacy concerns related to Tik Tok’s ownership by a Chinese tech company.
- Tik Tok denied it and said that 100 million American users’ data is stored in the U.S and back up in Singapore.
- Shortly after the announcement, Byte Dance was in talks with Microsoft or Oracle to sell Tik Tok’s U.S operations.
- Meanwhile, the talks went kaput after the Chinese government implemented new rules on AI technology exports that prevented Tik Tok from transferring its recommendation algorithm and technology.
Of note: Presently, The U.S. Commerce Department has announced a delay by week to September, 27 to the executive order deadline.
What he’s saying: After all the twists and turns, Trump approved the deal ‘in concept’ and said,
“I think it’s going to be a fantastic deal. I have given the deal my blessing. If they get it done that’s great, if they don’t that’s okay too.”
He further added that the new entity to be formed will be exclusive for U.S operations.
“It will have nothing to do with any outside land, any outside country, it will have nothing to do with China. It’ll be totally secure. That’ll be part of the deal.”
- The President also noted that the new company will likely be headquartered in Texas and could bring at least 25,000 jobs across the country.
- One of the stipulations for approving the deal was a $5 billion commitment towards an education fund to teach kids about history, science, and other subjects.
- Trump also noted that “it’ll be totally controlled by Oracle and Walmart”.
Yes, but not completely true. Tik Tok Global will be a 100% subsidiary of the Chinese parent company Byte Dance. The company is planning to raise pre-IPO financing with new investors Oracle and Walmart taking 20% – 12.5% and 7.5% respectively after which Tik Tok Global will be a 80% holding subsidiary of Byte Dance.
However, Americans will hold a 4-1 majority on the TikTok Global board, whereas ByteDance shareholders — will own a majority of shares in the company that includes American, Chinese, and international investors. This shows Byte Dance will have some control over the product’s intellectual property. Therefore, it is debatable to say whether the Americans will have total control over the company from governance, management, and technology standpoint.
What did Tik Tok say:
“We are pleased that the proposal by TikTok, Oracle, and Walmart will resolve the security concerns of the US Administration and settle questions around TikTok’s future in the US.”
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) September 19, 2020
What did Oracle say: Oracle CTO Larry Ellison said Tik Tok will run on the Oracle cloud. CEO Safra Catz said,
“Oracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok’s American users, and users throughout the world.”
“This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders.”
What does this mean for Oracle:
- The cloud deal is a huge win for Oracle and shows its expertise in cloud computing which is majorly dominated by Amazon and Microsoft.
- Oracle can expect a nice ROI when Tik Tok Global has a public listing n a year.
- Oracle will be the ‘trusted technology’ partner who will use its cloud infrastructure to protect U.S data.
- Oracle Generation 2 will isolate running applications and responds to security threats autonomously.
What did Walmart say: The retail giant will be a commercial partner and outlined the following in a statement:
“This partnership will provide Walmart with an important way for us to expand our reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace, fulfillment, and advertising businesses.”
- Walmart said it will provide “eCommerce, fulfillment, payments and other omnichannel services to TikTok Global.”
- It would work toward a public listing of TikTok Global in the U.S. “within a year” to bring more ownership to American citizens.
- The deal can help Walmart gain a foothold in social commerce and access to users who are younger than average Walmart shoppers.
What happens next: As reported by Bloomberg, The two companies would pay a combined $12 billion for their stakes if they agree to an asking price of $60 billion. However, the companies are yet to negotiate and finalize the valuation as they have worked out only equity and measures for data security.
As the deal inches closer, there are certain impending concerns :
- The Chinese government is yet to approve the deal. If sources are to be believed the deal will get a nod from China as it adheres to the new tech export rules.
- Given that Tik Tok is not completely cut loose of Chinese ownership, it is unclear whether it will satisfy the requirements of the U.S national security concerns.
This Tik Tok saga had many twists and turns and according to the U.S treasury, the deal still needs to be finalized and approved by the federal national security committee. More drama can be expected in the coming weeks.
Bottom Line: On the face of it, Tik Tok is here to stay and time-being influencers can do the happy dance.
Read more: Tik Tok Widens Ad Options With New Marketing Tools, Rolls Out New Feature ‘Stitch’
Watch Videos With Friends On Facebook Messenger!
Facebook never fails to amaze its users! The trend-setting social media platform is a digital home for billions of people around the world. They can talk, greet and share their feeling using the interactive social media platform.
Facebook also added an option for shopping on its platform a few months ago. It was said to be one of the best marketing strategies and have been in news for weeks! With its undying popularity among its audience, Facebook recently introduced a new feature on its messenger platform.
The messenger platform provides its users with the independence to connect with a maximum of eight friends and watch videos and movies on the platform.
The feature is getting a lot of positive responses from the market and people to seem excited to try their hands on this newly developed feature.
Facebook is calling it a “Co-viewing experience.” However, the content that can be watched on the network will be limited to things which are available on Facebook. The content will consist of both; user-uploaded videos and licensed videos.
“So go ahead and oooh and ahhh over a video by your favorite celebrity, shed a tear over a puppy rescue video, laugh out loud at the latest viral videos, scream during Blair Witch or feel nostalgic while watching your favorite episode of Community. Watch Together will help you feel together even when you’re not.”
According to a nexus shared by Google, every day approximately 150 million video calls initiated using the platform and nearly 200 million videos shared every day!
The feature of “Watch together is introduced to provide a “Co-viewing experience” to the audience so they can enjoy the ultimate experience of viewing their favorite videos with their loved ones.
“We created Watch Together to make spending quality time with friends and loved ones feel as close to an in-person experience as possible. Whether it’s watching a trending video, a movie, a sports highlight, a makeup tutorial or a Facebook Watch original, the feature allows you to watch your friends’ reactions at the same time.”
Experiencing the “Watch-Together” on Facebook Messenger
It is easy to use the feature, which will be available on the Facebook messenger application. A user will be able to use the feature while video conferencing with their loved ones. With just one easy swipe-up option while video conferencing, the user will get the option “Watch Together.” Once the user will click on the option, they will be able to access the list of the content and will also get an option to select the users with whom they want to share their video watching experience.
The experience can be enhanced using the Facebook application. On the application, the user can create a private room and add up to 50 members and can have a wonderful video watching experience.
However, the messenger rooms are user friendly and lenient in its policies.
What is there for the advertisers?
There are billions of people who are currently active on the social media platform. They are spending multiple hours in a day swiping through the variety of options that Facebook provides to its users.
The new “Watch-together” option is a brilliant way to lure customers to spend more time on the platform. It will even help them connect with their loved ones and family.
This Facebook strategy can prove to be an effective strategic step in breaking the viewership of Netflix, Amazon and Hotstar. Therefore, it will provide advertisers with an opportunity to place advertisements before or in between the videos.
The feature will be a global release this week and can prove a game-changer in the field of online content viewership and advertisement. Adscholars will keep you updated with all the upcoming updates! Stay tuned.
TikTok Being Transparent: Revealed It’s Algorithm To The World
After losing business in several countries, TikTok finally decided to reveal its algorithm to the people. It is a huge step taken by the makers of the company, as TikTok is a world-famous application and numerous competitors wanted to know the development details of the application.
TikTok has millions of followers on its platform, and it will be interesting to know how TikTok manages such a broad user database on its incredibly popular platform.
Well, we all are familiar with the popularity of TikTok in the global market. The company evaluation is somewhere around $20-30 billion.
Image credit – Sensor report.
According to a TikTok spokesperson, the big decision was taken to end the speculation of TikTok being a Chinese government spy application which the government is using to gain data of the users of other countries.
In a statement, Michael Beckerman TikTok’s vice president in charge of U.S. public policy stated:
“We’re a 2-year-old company operating with the expectations of a 10-year-old company,”
“We didn’t have the opportunity to grow up in the golden years of the internet when tech companies could do no wrong. We grew up in the techlash age, where there’s a lot of skepticism of platforms, how they moderate content and how their algorithms work.”
TikTok has developed a virtual centre in Los Angeles. They are calling it the “transparency centre.” A team of reporters visited the centre, where the TikTok team demonstrated the data practices and functioning of the algorithm.
TikTok is struggling to survive the order of banishment in the USA market. As, USA President Donald Trump has given a deadline of September 15, to the owners of the Chinese application to either face the ban, or sell the company to an American buyer.
Recently, China has also imposed a ban, restricting the export of all Chinese software. It is a step taken to prevent the Chinese application TikTok from selling its algorithm to USA buyers.
Understanding The Algorithm
The application uses the technique of machine learning to determine the most preferred content by the users. Once the content is determined, the algorithm makes sure that it shows similar content to the user. It also groups the people having similar interests and provides them with the content accordingly.
The First Time User
When the user is new to the application and opens it for the first time, the algorithm shows him eight videos from different categories. These categories are usually related to:
- Popular Trends in the social media or on the application
- Music
- And other topics
Once the algorithm gets familiar with the user choices, it will continue serving them with similar content on the application platform.
Group the content and find similarity between the videos, the algorithm uses hashtags, captions and sounds. Another method used by the algorithm to present videos to the user is by the device the user is using, the language they have selected and the country they are residing in.
Image credit – TikTok
The algorithm is advanced in its behavior and video presentation to the user, and it makes sure that the user is not represented with the same video which can lead to boredom and lack of interest in the application.
However, the work of the algorithm is not limited; to not showing the repeated content to the user. It makes sure that the users are presented with varieties of videos on other trending topics.
The Filter Bubble
TikTok calls its video filtering technique “the Filter Bubble.” The developer team of TikTok community keep a check on which filters are preferred by the users and how long they last before the user changes its preferences for the videos.
After the reports are generated on the filter bubbles, the developer sends the reports to the global team. The team analyzes the reports received and accordingly releases the upcoming video. It helps them to better market the trends and also gain advertisers and hire influencers.
Image Credit – influencermarketingh.
Detecting The Upcoming Problems
The technique helps the creator analyze the shortcomings of the application and see if there is a threat to security. It helps TikTok in maintaining their user policies by eliminating any unwanted content that might propagate on their platform or trend among their users.
Roland Cloutier, TikTok’s chief security officer, states that they have already planned to hire more than 100 experts on security and privacy in the USA.
The team is planning to build an investigation response centre in Washington D.C. The team will detect and regulate any malpractice incidence in real-time.
According to Beckerman, the step towards the transparency of the application will portray the company as a leader in the Silicon Valley.
“We want to take a leadership position and show more about how the app works,” he said. “For us, we’re new, and we want to do this because we don’t have anything to hide. The more we’re talking to and meeting with lawmakers, the more comfortable they are with the product. That’s the way it should be.”
TikTok Widens Ad Options With New Marketing Tools, Rolls Out New Feature ‘Stitch’
The fate of TikTok in the U.S is looming amid negotiations with potential buyers. The future is a question mark now as President Trump said he plans to shut down the Chinese-owned app if it is unable to sell its U.S operations before September 20 over security concerns. Meanwhile, business is as usual for the short video sharing app as it rolls out a new marketing partner program that will be housed under TikTok business. The company also announced the debut of a new editing feature called Stitch which allows users the ability to clip and integrate scenes from another user’s video into their own. It is also testing the new in-app eCommerce feature.
Launched officially in June, TikTok business is the company’s advertising platform and a hub for all marketing solutions for the app. The new marketing partner program has nearly 20 partner companies that can support brands and marketers in creating, executing, measuring, and boosting their ad campaigns. It will include companies across categories like campaign management (e.g. Sprinklr and Bidalgo), creative development (e.g. QuickFrame and Shuttlerock), branded effects (e.g. Bare Tree Media and Byte), and measurement(e,g, Kantar). The complete collaboration list is given below.
It is common for social media apps to add marketing partners, that’s doubling down the money through ad tech-based on its growing and engaging audience. This shows that TikTok has expansion plans to work with big brands, leverage its strong audience growth to build advertising opportunities, and sell products to them in an innovative way.
Melissa Yang, head of Ecosystem Partnerships, TikTok, noted in the blog post,
“With the launch of TikTok For Business, we’re building new opportunities for marketers to be creative storytellers and meaningfully engage with the TikTok community.”
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with some of the most strategic and trusted leaders in the advertising industry and continue giving marketers access to more tools to successfully create, measure and optimize ad campaigns on TikTok. We can’t wait to collaborate with partners to bring a creative and joyful experience to our brand partners and the broader TikTok community.”
Stitch The Seams Of Your Video
Stitch, is a way to reinterpret and add to another user’s content, building on their stories, tutorials, recipes, math lessons, and more. It allows users to include up to five seconds of a video clip from another user in their own TikTok post.
Stitch has been in testing form in April and now its rolled out to users globally to kickstart a new trend in videos. TikTok said like Duets, users can decide whether to stitch videos or not by changing the settings for all videos in the Privacy settings or toggle for each individual video whether to use the feature or not.
Image Credit: Twitter
Every video made by Stitch will attribute to the original creator in the caption and link directly to the original clipped video. This move ensures that the credit is given to the original creator and not get lost in the mix which is quite unusual on social media.
eCommerce Feature: In-app Video Shopping for Shopify and Teespring storefronts.
TikTok recently introduced an in-app shopping button to some users that directly links to e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Teespring in their videos. TikTok is partnering with eCommerce platforms to let creators sell merchandise directly through its app.
This new development will help TikTok to compete with its social media siblings like YouTube and Instagram. The shopping button will appear at the bottom left of the video and will be visible only in-app and not on a mobile browser or desktop. Creators can monetize their influence through merchandising and direct-to-consumer sales and can secure their own deals for sponsored posts. As per Business Insider reports, Teespring’s CEO said,
Its partnership with TikTok has drawn new interest in its merchandise and e-commerce tools from TikTokers. The company registered 900 new TikTok accounts on its platform in the first 24 hours after the integration was made public — a 13% increase
Presently, the shopping link feature works only with Teespring and Shopify, and users are not allowed to add links to unsupported websites. To add an e-commerce button to a ToikTok video, select add link choose a product on the video publishing page, and to this TikTok will automatically add a #sponsred hashtag to each post. The feature is still under evaluation before a full rollout.
Final List Of Collaboration With the Marketing Partners, As Per TikTok
Campaign Management –Partners that help plan, create, optimize, and measure marketing campaigns.
- Bidalgo – Bidalgo drives growth and reduces user acquisition complexity for mobile marketers, leveraging AI to generate actionable insights and powerful automation capabilities for creative production and media buying.
- Bidshake – Empowers fast, efficient and reliable campaign management by enabling real-time, automated cross-channel actions based on aggregated data all from one platform.
- Sprinklr – The world’s leading Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform.
- WinClap – The marketing company that provides advanced AI analytics, expertise, and creative production to boost the performance of your campaigns
- MakeMeReach – Multi-channel ads management platform optimized for scale.
Creative Development – To build assets like videos that work on TikTok
- QuickFrame – More than a marketplace connecting bro content at scale.
- Shuttlerock – Transforms existing brand assets into stunning handcrafted video ads.
- VidMob – Leading creative analytics & post-production platform that uses data to understand your creaands to video creators. We help businesses grow by transforming the way they produce videtive, improve your ads and increase marketing performance.
- Vidsy – Helping brands achieve their business goals with effective digital ad creative.
- Cohley – Helps brands and agencies cost-effectively scale the creation of UGC videos for ads.
Branded Effects- Partners that provide Virtual and Augmented-Reality services to brands from ideation to production for TikTok Branded Effects.
- Bare Tree Media – A full-service creative agency enabling brands to reach, engage and entertain consumers through the creation and digital publishing of augmented reality (AR), emojis, messaging stickers and GIFs within popular messaging platforms.
- Byte – Global specialists in branded AR, Byte is a martech agency that combines technology and creativity to help solve brands’ challenges.
- Happy Finish – Global creative production collective studio, creating realities. We specialize in cross-platform services including Retouch, CGI, Animation, VFX, VR, AR & Mixed Reality and Creative AI, and craft experiences for some of the biggest brands and agencies in the world.
- IgniteXR – Ignite XR is an end-to-end creative solutions group for augmented reality, creating integrated AR campaigns for brands and translating ideas into engaging immersive creative experiences.
- Poplar Studio – A global creative platform that makes the creation of 3D and AR campaigns easier, faster, affordable and fun — including face filters, world effects, mini-games, portals and image trackers.
- Subvrsive – Subvrsive is an immersive innovation studio focused on creating content, software and experiences that transform businesses on a global scale.
- Tommy – A modern communications agency that uses technology, strategy and award-winning design to help brands earn the attention of their audiences.
- Unit9 – A production studio focusing on AR/VR, Digital, Experiential, Gaming, Innovation and Film projects.
Measurement – To target and analyze campaigns
- Kantar – The world’s leading data, insights and consulting company.
Explained: Why Facebook thinks Apple’s iOS 14 privacy push will have a severe impact on business
Apple and Facebook are fighting again but this time over ads and privacy. Sometime next month, it is expected that Apple will roll out its iOS 14 updates with a privacy change. Apple will explicitly ask its users if they wanted to be tracked by a specific app. A simple question, with a potentially serious consequence. Facebook warns that these privacy changes can lead to a more than 50% drop in its Audience Network advertising business.
IDFA And The Privacy Changes
Apple assigns IDFA or Identifier for Advertisers to an iPhone across apps. This tracking mechanism is basically their cookie and advertising platforms rely on the data to target ads. App and gaming companies rely heavily on such data and show ads via Facebook’s ad platform, Audience Network.
This identifier was always present by default for iOS users but Apple’s new privacy change means that users cannot be tracked by default anymore. Many advertising industry insiders believe users will refuse data tracking permissions if given a choice. This means no data for ad targeting which eventually will make ad placement a task. Fewer ads on Facebook’s Audience Network will lead to less revenue for publishers.
Image Credit: Vox
Why Is Facebook Unhappy?
Facebook Audience Network is one of the ad placement options for Facebook. This placement depends on ad placement within the app. The app owners monetize this placement. The data from IDFA works with Facebook’s SDK, a tracking mechanism.
Image Credit: Search Engine Journal
Facebook has alerted advertisers of reduced targeting and campaign measurement ability as well as publishers especially working with Facebook’s Audience Network of the fall in revenue by 50% and warned that the impact could be more. In a blog post, it said,
Like all ad networks on iOS 14, advertiser ability to accurately target and measure their campaigns on Audience Network will be impacted, and as a result publishers should expect their ability to effectively monetize on Audience Network to decrease.
Ultimately, despite our best efforts, Apple’s updates may render Audience Network so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS 14.
Facebook also commented that it is less likely to affect its own ad business but will seriously dent small publishers and developers’ revenue using Audience Network. Audience Network represents a smaller part of the overall revenue pie.
What Steps Is Facebook Taking?
Facebook has outlined the steps to be taken to ensure that its advertising business is in line with Apple’s requirements. However, this will limit the scope of targeting ads effectively to iPhone and iPad users.
- Facebook will not collect IDFA by making a change to its own apps on iOS14. They will spare them from having to ask for data-tracking permissions from the users.
- Facebook asks businesses to create a new ad account dedicated to running app install ad campaigns for iOS 14 users. The current account that targets previous iOS versions along with Android users is to be maintained.
- An updated version of the Facebook SDK will be released to support iOS 14 which will limit the data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns. This update will be rolled out before Apple releases the iOS14 update.
Facebook’s tone has always been mild but remarkable to openly challenge Apple. In a blog, the company said,
“We understand that iOS 14 will hurt many of our developers and publishers at an already difficult time for businesses. We work with more than 19,000 developers and publishers from around the globe¹ and in 2019 we paid out billions of dollars². Many of these are small businesses that depend on ads to support their livelihood.”
Why Apple’s Move Is So Significant?
iOS makes up just 25 % of the total global mobile market and the remaining is dominated by Android but the former is a more monetizable operating system as the iPhone users are from better economic strata. Therefore any change in the policy can have a great impact on the ad and developer business.
Read more: Facebook Debuts Shops In Its Mobile App, Instagram Expands Checkout Feature
TikTok Trump Row: CEO Kevin Mayer Calls Quit
- TikTok confirmed CEO Kevin Mayer’s departure in an emailed statement and said the political dynamics of the last few months have “significantly changed” the scope of his role.
- Former Disney executive, Kevin Mayer had joined the TikTok in mid-May and resigned just after 100 days.
Kevin Mayer, TikTok Chief Executive Officer has left the company in less than four months after he joined the world’s largest short video app in mid-May. According to an internal memo viewed by Financial Times, TikTok’s general manager Vanessa Pappas will take over the position on an interim basis.
Mayer said in his letter to employees,
“In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for.”
“Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company.”
Over the last few weeks, TikTok faced tremendous pressure from the Trump administration over its links to China. On August 6, Trump also signed an order banning TikTok and WeChat in 45 days if they don’t sell the app’s U.S operations though they have time until mid-November to divest itself. Mayer “did not anticipate the extent to which TikTok would become involved in tensions between China and the U.S.”, sources reported to Financial Times.
Recently, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for banning transactions with ByteDance. TikTok is owned by Chinese internet company Byte Dance that is caught amidst growing distrust between Washington and Beijing. Trump administration accuses the app as a national security threat to the U.S.
The impending TikTok sale attracted investors interest starting from Microsoft, the front runner to least expected Oracle.
TikTok spokesperson in a statement to TechCrunch said,
“We appreciate that the political dynamics of the last few months have significantly changed what the scope of Kevin’s role would be going forward, and fully respect his decision. We thank him for his time at the company and wish him well.”
ByteDance’s founder and CEO Zhang Yiming said Mayer had joined the firm just as it was “entering arguably our most challenging moment.”
“It is never easy to come into a leadership position in a company moving as quickly as we are, and the circumstances following his arrival made it all the more complex.”
TikTok has also been targeted in India as it was one of the 59 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government in June following a border clash between India and China.
Before joining TikTok, Kevin Mayer worked at Disney for over 27 years and was head of direct-to-consumer content and international business at Disney who oversaw the launches of Disney+ and ESPN+. Mayer left after Disney named Bob Chapek the company’s new CEO. Mayer was considered a longtime contender for the CEO position.
