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The Top Three 🏆

The industry’s most important stories today.

🥇 AD SPEND ESCAPES THE DUMPSTER FIRE

The (shit)show must go on: Advertisers are shifting dollars to Google, YouTube, and Pinterest as TikTok and Meta face challenges. Between Q4 2024 and January 20, Google, YouTube, and Pinterest saw an increase in U.S. paid media traffic, while TikTok and Meta's shares dropped, according to analytics provider MikMak. more

• This shift aligns with TikTok’s brief U.S. shutdown on January 18–19 and Meta's move to replace third-party fact-checking with a new Community Notes moderation system.

• TikTok’s U.S. paid media share dropped 38%, while Meta’s fell by 7.8% from Q4 2024 to January 20.

• Google search was up 81%, YouTube traffic grew by 73%, and Pinterest’s share increased by 7.5%.

🥈 GOOGLE ADDS CHAT FOR U.S. BUSINESSES

Google Business Profiles first launched chat through texting and WhatsApp for businesses in international regions. Now, it appears the feature is rolling out to businesses in the U.S. more

• Some users have reported seeing the option to set up chat when editing their business contact information.

• However, the official Google help document still says, "This feature is not yet available in the U.S."

🥉 NICKNAMES KILL BRAND PERFORMANCE

The performance killer: A new study shows that nickname branding, like calling Rolex "Rollie" or BMW "Beemer," can weaken a brand's power, leading to lower engagement and reduced purchase intent. While marketers often use consumer-driven nicknames to appear more relatable, research suggests this tactic may backfire. more

• On social media, brands with nicknames saw reduced social media engagement, with fewer likes and shares on X and a significant drop in click-through rates on Facebook and TikTok.

• Beyond social, nickname branding also led to lower purchase intent for both luxury and mainstream brands like Starbucks.

• 🎯 Why? The study's researchers suggest that nicknames make consumers see a brand as less powerful and authoritative, which in turn directly hurts brand performance.

Today’s Other News ☑︎

Everything else that matters.

Advertising 📣

• ✈️ Mile-Advertising Club?: WHSmith, a retail chain that operates stores in airports, is launching a new ad network. With partners like TSA, Meta, and The Trade Desk, advertisers can use airport foot traffic and store data to run targeted digital ads for passengers while they travel. more

• Brands are tapping into Roblox to target Gen Alpha, with more than two-thirds of their parents reporting their kids use the platform. Want in? An industry expert suggests that advertisers should treat Roblox as experiential marketing, focusing on interactive events rather than static ads. more

Search 🔍

• Google search ranking volatility seems to be increasing, with reports of fluctuating traffic and rankings across SEO forums and social media since January 20th. Some SEO tools are having issues tracking the changes while others are not, and there's speculation about the cause, including the U.S. presidential inauguration. more

• A rude awakening: Google is showing map pins on some Service Area Businesses, which previously only appeared for businesses with public addresses. Some reports suggest it's a bug, while others think it's a new update. According to reports, this has been happening since December. more

Streaming 📺️ 

• Netflix added nearly 19M paid subscribers in Q4, bringing its total to around 300M paid accounts in 2024. More than half of sign-ups in ad-tier countries opted for the ads plan, prompting the company to raise its price by $1 to $7.99. more

• YouTube, Netflix, and Prime Video set new viewing records in December, per Nielsen. While the overall streaming market climbed 9%, capturing a record 43.5% of total TV viewing time. more

  • YouTube lead with a 11% share.

  • Netflix hit 8.5%.

  • Prime Video secured 4.0%.

Products & Updates 🆕 

• Adobe Premiere Pro now includes visual search, letting users find video clips by describing their contents. The feature recognizes objects, locations, camera angles, and more, though it doesn't identify audio or specific people. more

• Starting in February, Microsoft will automatically keep you signed in to your account unless you sign out or use private browsing. If you use a public computer, or shared computer at work, don’t forget to log out—or risk handing over your account to ✨gestures at everyone✨ more

Social Media 📱

• YouTube Premium is turning up the perks: Subscribers can now test multiple new features at once, including:

  • 256kbps audio quality on videos.

  • picture-in-picture for iOS.

  • automatically download “recommended Shorts” for offline viewing.

  • Coming soon: playback speeds up to 4x on mobile.

Social Trends 👀 

• 🧺 Trad carefully: The rise of viral "tradwives" on social media—women embracing traditional gender roles like homemaking and motherhood—has caught the attention of brands. However, experts caution the trend risks controversial political undertones and unrealistic gender expectations, leaving brands walking a fine line between relatability and cultural sensitivity. more

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