Today in Digital Marketing - Apple ‘Boosts’ the War Against Meta

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Wednesday, October 26th. Today, will Apple's move this week force Meta to start charging 30% more for ads? Also, where did the tweeters go? More bad news for digital ad revenues. Why app developers are getting very angry. LinkedIn brings some nice updates. And data nerds rejoice. Attribution comparison is back.

Starting point is 00:00:22 I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Apple has updated its rules around in-app payment and in the process gave another big middle finger to meta. In the new rules, apps where people can buy advertising will now have to give Apple a 30% cut. Quoting The Verge, paying to boost posts is a common feature across not justa's apps, but other social apps like Twitter and TikTok. The difference for Facebook and Instagram is that they currently don't use Apple's in-app purchase system for boosting posts, while Twitter and TikTok and others do. Unquote. As you might expect, Meta is not happy.

Starting point is 00:00:59 A spokesperson told media that the move represents a sharp U-turn in Apple's policy. Quote, Apple continues to evolve its policies to grow their own business while undercutting others in the digital economy. Apple previously said it didn't take a share of developer advertising revenue and now apparently changed its mind. We remain committed to offering small businesses simple ways to run ads and grow their businesses on our apps, unquote. Of course, the social network claims it's concerned about small businesses rather than its own revenue. That has frequently been one of Meta's go-to talking points. According to an ad industry analyst, Meta's biggest advertisers won't feel Apple's latest squeeze, but instead it will hurt the smaller players who buy one-off Instagram and Facebook boosts.

Starting point is 00:01:42 There are concerns about Apple demanding the same rule for Meta's standalone ad manager app in the future. Currently, Apple's wording makes it clear that apps used specifically to manage ad campaigns are unaffected since they do not show the ads within the same app. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance,

Starting point is 00:02:15 your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. that sink in. 200 days ago, Musk seemed much less enthused, tweeting, is Twitter dying? Well, it may not be dead yet, but Twitter's most active users are apparently disappearing and showing no sign of coming back, according to newly leaked documents obtained by Reuters. The internal report titled, Where Did the Tweeters Go?, said that the platform's heavy tweeters, who account for less than 10% of users but post 90% of its tweets, have been in, quote, absolute decline, unquote, since the beginning of the pandemic.

Starting point is 00:03:14 The document defined a heavy tweeter as someone who logs into Twitter six or seven days a week and tweets about three to four times a week. This dwindling group also reportedly generates half of the company's global revenue. The report noted a study which found that popular topics on the platform are in decline among English-speaking users like news, sports, entertainment, and esports. Twitter also added in this internal report that it's losing a devastating, that's their words, number of active users interested in fashion or celebrities like the Kardashians, as those users have likely moved to Instagram or TikTok. On the other hand, the fastest growing topics of interest in the past two years include cryptocurrency and porn.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Twitter is one of the few major social networks to permit nudity, which of course is not great for advertisers looking to stay away from controversy or, you know, porn for fear of jeopardizing brand safety. According to a separate internal slide presentation, the company estimates that adult content makes up nearly 15% of Twitter. There are some positive updates for the company, though. First, Twitter announced an expansion of its Campaign Planner tool in Twitter ads yesterday, which can provide more insight into campaign performance before launching promotions. Twitter originally launched this option back in June, but this represents a wider rollout. Campaign Planner lets advertisers measure several performance outcomes like reach, impressions, average frequency, and CPM. It also provides insights into budget

Starting point is 00:04:50 requirements and likely results. The platform has also added the ability to forecast your video views campaigns. Previously, Campaign Planner only supported reach-based campaigns. And finally, it is testing another spotlight for professional profiles. Those professional accounts can now feature one of their communities on their profile. That means professional profiles now have five spotlight elements to choose from, including this new community spotlight. More signs that the advertising market is struggling, this time from Alphabet's quarterly results. That's Google's parent company. Yesterday, they reported third quarter ad revenue fell by nearly $2 billion compared to the previous quarter,

Starting point is 00:05:37 certainly signaling a big slowdown in the digital ad market. Google results are, quote, a bad omen for digital companies at large, unquote., that according to an analyst at Insider Intelligence, the tech giant's disappointing quarter could be a sign that hard times lay ahead for digital ad companies, including Meta, which has already reported slowing advertising revenues in previous quarters. In Meta's case, a further drop in advertising revenue could add to investors' already heightened anxiety. Google's numbers were not the first sign of a slowdown, though, as we reported Snapchat's soft quarterly results last week. Another platform reported yesterday Spotify's ad revenue grew slower than expected during its third quarter,

Starting point is 00:06:14 but was still up 20% year over year, with ad revenue accounting for about 15% of its total revenue. So Google's ad revenue is down and Apple is reportedly pushing gambling ads. Apple rolled out new ad placements in the App Store this week, including a space in the You Might Also Like section at the bottom of individual apps. Within 48 hours of its new ad placement debut, a number of app developers have noted that gambling ads are now appearing beneath their app store listings. One developer shared a screenshot of an ad for an online casino app appearing beneath his text editor app. The developer said he visited the page for his app 10 times and noticed that ads for gambling apps showed up on three of those 10 visits. Meanwhile, the developer of the excellent podcast app Overcast posted on Twitter that he's really not okay with the gambling ad showing up on his app product page. Another user replied, noting that these ads are also showing up at the bottom of listings

Starting point is 00:07:19 for gambling addiction recovery apps. While someone else noticed gambling ads have even popped up on children's education apps. It's not just gambling ads. Other low-quality ads are also appearing in these spots. One user found an adult video chat ad that appeared beneath Apple's own Books app. Overcast's developer pointed out that Apple lets advertisers show their ads against relevant and non-relevant app store listings, which is why gambling and adult video chat apps are appearing everywhere on the app store. He also added that Apple only lets advertisers filter their ads based on basic demographic filters like country, gender and age range.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Apple is expected to report earnings tomorrow, which may shed light on its ad problem. But isn't 30% enough? LinkedIn is trying to get a handle on its fake account problem, the professional network announcing several new security features yesterday. First, the company is adding a new About This Profile feature this week, which will provide insight into a user's profile like when it was created, when it was last updated, verified phone numbers, work email addresses, and so on. The platform is also improving its machine learning and AI models to better detect uploaded profile images generated by AI image apps

Starting point is 00:08:36 to help fix its fake AI profile image problem. Finally, LinkedIn is adding new warning prompts on DMs that include high-risk content that, quote, could impact your security, unquote. These warnings will also give you the choice to report the content without letting the sender know. And finally, Meta says it will be returning the ability to compare between one-day view, one-day click, and seven-day metrics for web conversions, and will begin introducing 28-day click attribution starting October 31st. When this becomes available to you, you'll be able to find it in ads reporting by selecting attribution settings to see a list of attribution settings you can compare. These metrics will be

Starting point is 00:09:20 available in the results column. They say that for the 28-day click attribution window, full data will only be applicable to existing campaigns that have been live for at least 28 days before the launch date. For other existing campaigns or new campaigns, 28-day click attribution view will only provide partial data. Also starting tomorrow, they will enable eight breakdowns that will let you customize your web and app conversions reporting. Those are age, gender, age and gender together, country, impression device, platform, platform and device, and placement.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Just 20 bucks will get you a classified ad, which I'll read out right here on the show. You can book it online in about 60 seconds. Look for the link in the show notes called Classified Ads. Or if your company has news you think our listeners should know about, let us know on our tips page. Look for Pitch Us a Story in the show notes. I'm Todd Maffin. Thanks for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more. It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free

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Today in Digital Marketing - Apple ‘Boosts’ the War Against Meta

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