The Top Three

🏆 THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES TODAY

🥇 META TO PUBLISH AD MANUAL

💰️ Buy into their ad playbook… literally: A $META ( ▲ 14.76% ) exec has a new book coming out called “Click Here”, which will provide notes on the development of the company's ad algorithms and processes. more

• The book offers advice on topics like channel selection, creative testing, using generative AI, and building measurement tools.

• “Click here” is set to be published in October, with pre-orders available on Amazon in the U.S. and UK.

🥈 How Snap Ranks Content On Maps

$SNAP ( ▲ 21.99% ) has outlined how it ranks content on Snap Map, with three main factors at play:

1. Human Moderation: The platform uses human moderators to ensure content follows community guidelines and to review flagged content.

2. Contextual Content: Snaps from nearby locations are used to add context for map listings. For example, a snap of a hamburger may show up with other food-related posts or linked to a restaurant.

3. Recency & Activity: Recent content takes priority, with City Stories showcasing the latest posts from that location. While Place Stories are ranked by how many users have Favourited them.

🥉 DIGG RISES AGAIN

🤲 OG internet revival: Digg is making a comeback, thanks to its founder Kevin Rose and $REDDIT.X ( 0.0% ) cofounder Alexis Ohanian. This time, the duo believes that AI is key to creating a new, better social platform. more

• The new Digg will stick to its roots, focusing on content and links.

• Users share a link, and people can vote on and comment on the links, with the most popular content appearing on the homepage.

• The site is relaunching today, but only in a limited form.

Today’s Other News

📰 EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MATTERS

Advertising 📣

• Target’s $TGT ( ▲ 10.13% ) ad business, Roundel, brought in $649 million in 2024, up 25% from 2023, per its Q4 report released yesterday. While ad revenue grew, overall sales were flat. The retailer's total sales fell 3%, and profits dropped 20%. more

• Prefer 'Manual' audience targeting for your Meta campaigns? Now, you'll need to click 'Further limit the reach of your ad' at the ad set level. Meta’s new setup for Leads and Sales campaigns auto-enables all ‘Advantage+’ options by default. Manual options are still available but require a few extra steps. more

  1. Go to the ad set level of your campaign.

  2. Scroll to the 'Audience' section.

  3. Click "Further limit the reach of your ads."

  4. Confirm the switch, and you’ll get manual targeting options again.

• Live ads and buy-side interoperability were key topics for streamers at The Trade Desk’s $TTD ( ▲ 19.55% ) Fwd25 event, where execs from NBCU, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Disney discussed their offerings for advertisers this year. Marketing Brew reports how NBCU’s success with live programmatic ads during the Paris Olympics showcased the potential.

Social Media 📱

• 💰️ LIVE, laugh, profit: TikTok Live is projected to generate $77 billion in sales by 2027. Despite roadblocks, TikTok’s live shopping sales, fueled by features like gifts and subscriptions, reached $1.7 billion in 2023. The platform has described LIVE viewers as a ‘committed’ user base, with more than 60% of them watching it daily. more

  • Meanwhile, competitors like YouTube and LyveCom are ramping up their live shopping efforts.

• YouTube is tightening its rules on gambling-related content starting March 19th. Currently, it prohibits links to sites not certified by Google, but the update will also block URLs, links embedded in images or text, and visual displays, like logos or verbal mentions. Content promising guaranteed winnings may also be removed. more

  • The platform also notes that while some gambling content may not violate its rules, it could still be age-restricted. This means online gambling content, excluding sports betting and in-person gambling, won’t be viewable to users under 18 or those who are signed out.

• YouTube is also expanding its Hype program, which lets viewers allocate “hype points” to videos to get more reach. Creators in Brazil can now manage Hype on Studio Mobile for Android, a feature previously limited to the web. YouTube plans to roll out Hype to more regions in the coming months. more

• 🚨 Deepfakes hacking user accounts: YouTube is warning users about an AI-generated video of its CEO Neal Mohan being used for phishing scams. The fake video, shared privately with users, claims the platform is making changes to its monetization policy in an attempt to steal their credentials. more

AI 🤖 

• 👀 Chatbots in ads: Meta is developing new tools to push the adoption of its business AIs. more

  • The company is updating its onboarding process.

  • It is also testing business AIs on Facebook and Instagram ads, letting users ask questions about products and services.

  • A voice feature for business AI on ads will soon be tested.

Legal ⚖️ 

• 😘 Kiss the ring, Google: $GOOGL ( ▲ 9.63% ) has asked President Trump’s Department of Justice to drop its breakup push. Last year, President Biden's DOJ proposed breaking up Google after a judge ruled its search business was an illegal monopoly. But Trump said he wouldn’t pursue the breakup if he won. Now, the company is appealing to the Trump administration, warning the DOJ's plans could harm the U.S. economy and national security. more

Product Updates 🆕 

• Google has launched Merchant Excellence for Partners, a Looker Studio dashboard, which lets merchants optimize product data and performance across Google Ads and Merchant Center. It includes two components:

  1. Advanced Commerce Insights Tool (ACIT) - A dashboard for monitoring on product lifecycle.

  2. Merchant Excellence for Partners (MEX4P) - A best-practices dashboard for GMC accounts.

• 🙏 An emoji is worth 1000 words: Google now supports reactions for reviews on mobile Search and Maps, letting users react to reviews with emojis like a heart, prayer hands, fire, and more. more

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