Every week the Insights Team a The Goat Agency pull together the latest news from the social space in a weekly Industry Round Up. Make sure you never miss the full story behind the top headlines in the creator, marketing and social space again!
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Contents
Spotify’s Latest Podcast Acquisitions
Is The Party Over For Pandemic Winners?
Meta’s Success With Virtual Reality
Netflix Brings ‘Fast Laughs’ To TV Screens
TikTok’s New Deal With Conde Nast
Amelia Dimoldenberg Is The Newest Olay Ambassador
TikToker Remi Bader Recruited By Victoria’s Secret
Snapchat’s Live Location Updates
Meta’s New Restrictions On Profile Picture Frames
Facebook Reels Launches To All Users
Monetisation Options For Facebook Reels
YouTube’s New Shorts Analytics
Spotify’s Latest Podcast Acquisitions
Spotify is looking to enhance the podcast insights provided for advertisers on the platform. To do so, Spotify has purchased Podsights and Chartable.
Podsights will enable advertisers to better measure and scale their podcast ads, while Chartable will help publishers understand touchpoints that aid in the purchase journey of consumers and provide additional audience insights.
Spotify is also looking to eventually expand Podsights to other content on the platform including audio ads within music, video ads and display ads. Chartable will sit within Megaphone, the podcast production, advertising and audience metric platform which was acquired by Spotify in 2020 for $235 million.
Kanye West & Stem Player
Kanye West has announced that his next album, Donda 2, will be released exclusively on a device called Stem Player. The device costs $200, which both Kanye and Kano Computing co-developed. The device allows users to split songs into drums, bass, vocals and layer effects.
The aim of this move from the perspective of Kanye West is to free music and allow artists to gain more control over their art. In the current climate, labels and platforms are taking the majority of an artists’ earnings with streaming giants, in particular, paying artists very poorly.
We’ve already seen Jay-Z create Tidal based on the premise that other streaming platforms are paying artists extremely small percentages. Now, we are seeing Kanye move in a similar direction by cutting out the likes of Spotify and Apple music altogether.
Is The Party Over For Pandemic Winners?
A number of companies experienced huge success as consumer behavior shifted due to the pandemic. Sectors that experienced wins were those with digital capabilities and those that offered fitness solutions during lockdowns.
However, some of these companies have finally hit a wall as growth is being stunted. Roku, the streaming company, dropped 22% as investors showed their disappointment due to poor Q4 performance – making it their worst day of trading since 2018. Roku experienced a 150% rise during the pandemic, but now overall shares are down 75% from a peak in July 2021.
Shopify is another company down 62% from its peak, along with Roblox which is down 63% and Netflix down 43%. But why are these companies seeing declines? One reason is the investment in the assumption that Covid-19 changed consumer behavior forever, which ultimately lead to some businesses making poor decisions. This was very much the case for Peloton, who saw huge success during lockdown, but found that this appetite for at-home equipment soon died down once restrictions lifted. What happened next? Peloton lost a CEO, had to cut jobs and had an 82% stock drop.
Meta’s Success With Virtual Reality
It’s no secret that Meta is going all-in with the metaverse, and the company is already seeing success with the sales of VR headsets and an increase in users on Meta’s VR platform Horizon Worlds.
According to reports, both Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues (meta’s VR event space) is now being used by over 300,000 people each month. This marks a 10X increase since the initial launch of Horizon Worlds in December.
Meta’s Reality Labs division also saw an increase of $319 million in Q4, with the Quest 2 selling for £299 a piece and a surge in sales being evident during the holiday season.
Meta has also reported that over 10,000 environments have been created in Horizon Worlds VR development space, stating the possibilities are endless and encouraging users to drop in and explore these new spaces on the platform.
Netflix Brings ‘Fast Laughs’ To TV Screens
Netflix is testing ‘Fast Laughs’, a stream of comedic clips curated by the Netflix team on the TV app. The feature is similar to TikTok’s feed, allowing users to swipe through short clips that are around 30 seconds long – all from Netflix shows and movies.
The aim of the platform is to facilitate more engaging ways for media discovery on the platform, by tapping into the short-form video trend that is so prevalent among younger audiences.
Once opting in for the test, users can access the new feature by scrolling down the Netflix homepage till they reach the Fast Laughs row, where clips when clicked appear in full-screen. There will be an option to go back and forward on clips, as well as an option to add a title to your list or jump straight to the title and watch there and then.
The Fast Laugh feature was first tested on the mobile app, where it appeared in a vertical TikTok-like steam that allowed users to share, add shows to lists and react. Now the TV test is getting rolled out to users in the US, Canada, UK and other English-speaking countries – with only adult profiles having access.
TikTok’s New Deal With Conde Nast
TikTok has a new deal in place with global media company Conde Nast, which will see exclusive content being produced by Vogue and GQ across TikTok.
The content will primarily focus on the various fashion weeks around the world and will see the publication’s launch live streams and hashtag challenges. The deal also involves print elements, with a four-page insert in March issues of GQ and Vogue.
Vogue and GQ have already launched respective TikTok channels back in 2020, and have since amassed large followings. The upcoming exclusive content will include TikTok users recreating fashion trends for Vogue and GQ’s content including athletes sharing wellness practices.
Emma Chamberlain & Pacsun
The popular YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, who has over 11.3 million subscribers has headlined PacSun’s 2022 spring/summer campaign. Emma has been a spokesman for the brand for almost a year and in the new campaign is featured as a digital avatar.
The campaign will be live across social media, stores and the Pacsun website, with Emma already hosting a live-stream shopping event on the brand website and TikTok page last week.
Interestingly, the brand is also releasing its first video game, which will sit within the brand’s app. The game won’t feature Emma, but will allow players to explore underwater worlds – much like what is displayed in the new campaign. The game allows players to win pieces of clothing to build virtual closets – yet another example of a fashion brand using new technologies and immersive gameplay to market products to younger demographics.
Amelia Dimoldenberg Is The Newest Olay Ambassador
CEO of @chickenshopdate and comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg has recently been announced as Olay’s latest UK brand ambassador.
Over the years, Olay UK has taken a unique approach in their ambassador selection. Choosing to tap into popular culture and personalities who have grown on social media, as opposed to beauty and skincare influencers. Past ambassadors include Lady Leshurr, the British rapper, songwriter, and producer.
TikToker Remi Bader Recruited By Victoria’s Secret
TikToker and model Remi Bader has been recruited by Victoria’s Secret as a brand ambassador and size consultant for the sub-brand Pink. This move aligns with Pink’s plans to roll out diverse sizing in the product categories of swimwear, intimates and apparel.
The creator will also be involved in live events, style curation content and will have input in product testing. Remi Bader will also be a judge on the Pink With Purpose panel – an initiative that highlights young people who want to make a change within their community.
This move follows Victoria’s Secret rebrand, which saw the company ditch VS Angels, for more realistic models and spokesmodels who come from diverse backgrounds.
Snapchat’s Live Location Updates
Snapchat is launching a live sharing function, enabling a user to share their location with chosen contacts through the Snap Map. The location option allows users to share where they are for 15 minutes, an hour or 8 hours in a private chat window with the timer being displayed.
The new function is being rolled out to help keep users safe. Interestingly, the capability to share location in Snap Map has been possible since 2017, however, only as a general indicator while a user is logged into the app. The new functionality is more specific, with users having the control to pause sharing without sending a notification. The feature is also switched off by default.
Meta’s New Restrictions On Profile Picture Frames
In 2015 Facebook added the capability to add profile image frames, beginning with sports teams then expanding to more customisable options. In fact, at one point thousands of options were available through Facebook’s Frames Gallery.
However, with Meta deciding to ban anti-vaccine messaging in its apps, activists switched to profile frames to share anti-vax statements. Facebook then responded by removing the frames and shutting down the capacity for users to create their own frames through the Frame Studio. At this point, only authoritative organizations had the ability to create profile frames on Facebook.
Now Meta has made it clear their position on profile picture frames, stating that frames from unapproved pages and profiles can no longer be applied to new profile pictures. From March 21st, the option to make profile frames will be limited to certain government services or organizations providing authoritative information on COVID-19.
Facebook Reels Launches To All Users
Meta has released Reels to all Facebook users in the latest short-form video expansion. Facebook Reels will be available in 150 more regions, with a new Reels display being introduced on the top of users’ Facebook feeds.
Facebook will aim to get more people watching Reels while adding new creative tools and features to enhance the user experience. Facebook Reels will include a remix functionality, with clips being up to 60 seconds in length with the option to share Reels to Stories.
Facebook will also have Reels drafts and a new video clipping option to make it easier for creators who publish live or long-form content to test different formats. This somewhat mirrors YouTube’s decision to have its own short-form video offering, YouTube Shorts, act as a complementary channel, to reach new communities and maximize the growth of creator channels on the platform.
Monetisation Options For Facebook Reels
Facebook Reels has only just launched for all users and now creators can monetise their content. Facebook is bringing overlay ads to Facebook Reels in the U.S, Canada and Mexico, with a rollout to additional markets expected in March. These overlay ads will come in the form of semi-transparent banners and sticker ads.
The banner ads will sit at the bottom of a Reel, while a Sticker ad can be placed anywhere within a Reel by the creator. Creators eligible for overlay ads must have at least 10,000 followers, 600,000 total minutes of view time in the last 60 days and at least five active videos.
The revenue split for ads within Facebook Reels will see 55% of the cut go to creators and Facebook having 45%. Furthermore, Facebook will roll out fullscreen ads between Reels very soon – but this won’t see creators benefit from any revenue share.
Finally, Facebook will be testing Stars – a feature that allows viewers to send creators tips on Reels content in the coming weeks.
YouTube’s New Shorts Analytics
YouTube is adding new insights for music channels, showing artists how popular their songs are among YouTube Shorts users. The new insights will be available within YouTube Analytics for artist channels, showing their most popular songs in Shorts clips over a 28-day period.
The new insights will also indicate which songs are generating interest and the total view counts for those clips. The addition of these new insights feeds into the platform’s ongoing short-form video push.
Shorts are becoming an appealing format for creators, especially with issues arising with TikTok’s Creator Fund. Currently, YouTube stands as the better platform to monetise content, which can only be enhanced by additional insights for creators to better understand content opportunities.
Don’t forget to also follow us on Linkedin and Instagram for real-time announcements of all our new blog content!
