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The Top Three

🏆 THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES TODAY

🥇 META ACCUSED OF HIDING $4B IN AD OVERCHARGES

This is fine🔥: Meta $META ( ▼ 0.17% ) is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it overcharged Facebook advertisers by $4 billion due to a flawed auction system. Iron Tribe Fitness claims Facebook promised to use a “second price” auction model, where the winner pays just above the second-highest bid. Instead, due to a coding error in 2013, it reportedly used a “blended price” model, charging somewhere between the top two bids, resulting in higher costs. more

• The gym alleges advertisers were overcharged for two reasons:

  1. Facebook’s system included the winning bid in pricing calculations, which inflated prices.

  2. Advertisers were encouraged to bid high, assuming the second price model would protect them.

• According to the complaint, Facebook discovered the issue in 2016 but didn’t immediately fix it for all advertisers.

• A Facebook exec allegedly estimated the error brought in $1B per year.

• Meta has not yet responded to requests for comment.

🥈 GOOGLE’S AI BLOCKS 5.1B ADS

🥊 Bot vs. Fraud: Google $GOOGL ( ▼ 1.42% ) released its 2024 Ads Safety Report today, revealing it suspended more than 39 million advertiser accounts last year, more than triple the previous year’s total, in its ongoing fight against ad fraud. By using LLMs Google said it was able to identify signals like business impersonation and fraudulent payment details to suspend the majority of accounts before they could serve ads. more

• 5 million suspensions were for scam-related violations.

• In the U.S., Google said it removed 1.8 billion ads, addressing violations like ad network abuse, trademark misuse, and misrepresentation.

• Nearly half a billion scam ads were removed.

• Overall, Google blocked 5.1 billion ads and removed 1.3 billion pages, compared to 5.5 billion ads blocked and 2.1 billion publisher pages removed in 2023.

🥉 DEAL OR DUPE?

I’ve fallen down a TikTok rabbit hole, and it’s Chinese factories that are trolling U.S. consumers with fake bargains. TikTok has recently exploded with viral videos where these manufacturers claim to sell brand-name products like Hermès handbags, Birkenstocks, and Lululemon activewear directly from the source at a fraction of the price, promising to “cut out the middle man.” These videos, attract millions of views, tapping into the rising awareness among Americans about their dependence on China for goods. Amid the chaos of global trade and tariffs, like President Trump's 145% tax on Chinese imports, many shoppers are falling for it. more

• In one viral video, a man shows off $10 Birkenstock-like shoes, instead of the $165 original. But a closer look suggests these shoes are knock-offs.

• The TikTok account links to an AliExpress storefront selling suede slip-on shoes for $15.

• Ironically, thanks to tariffs, these direct-to-consumer imitation goods are set to skyrocket in price regardless.

Today’s Other News

📰 EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MATTERS

Advertising 📣

• LinkedIn is expanding its Wire video promotion program, which lets brands run pre-roll ads alongside premium publisher content in the app. The program is currently being tested with select outlets like Bloomberg, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. Advertisers can now choose specific participating publishers and manage placements directly through Campaign Manager. more

• LinkedIn has expanded its Media Rating Council accreditation for video ad metrics, covering gross impressions, net impressions, gross clicks, and net clicks. The video accreditations apply to in-feed video ads across desktop, mobile web, and in-app platforms. more

• Publicis Groupe remains optimistic despite rising concerns over tariffs and potential budget cuts from clients. The agency reported a 5% year-over-year growth in organic revenue for Q1, though it acknowledged that macroeconomic uncertainty could impact future spending, per its earnings release yesterday. Despite challenges from the global trade war, Publicis continues to perform well compared to competitors. more

Social Media 📱

• 🤼 Another big move to compete with Google Search: TikTok is adding business reviews to location-tagged posts. Some comment sections now include a "Reviews" tab, where users can see feedback for businesses at the tagged location. Tapping on a review will take you to the reviewer's TikTok profile. more

• 🤔 SocialGPT?: OpenAI is reportedly looking to build a new social app, similar to X. While it's still in its early stages, sources say the platform features an internal prototype with a social feed centered around ChatGPT-generated images. CEO Sam Altman has been seeking feedback from external parties, though it's unclear whether this will be a standalone app or integrated into the ChatGPT platform, which recently became the most downloaded app globally. more

• X has rolled out a new post analytics display, but it’s only available to Premium subscribers. The updated dashboard gives a full breakdown of engagement and reach metrics like reposts, shares, video views, and Premium viewer counts. It also includes a chart that tracks post activity over time by metric. more

Audience Insights 👀 

• Young listeners are driving digital audio growth, with 90% of internet users aged 16 to 24 tuning in regularly, exceeding radio. In the U.S., eMarketer forecasts that 67% of all consumers and 75% of internet users will listen to digital audio at least once a month in 2025. Adult listeners are expected to spend an average of 1 hour and 25 minutes a day with digital audio this year.

  • The trend shows no signs of slowing, due to easy access via smart devices, the rise of podcasts and audiobooks, and the digitization of AM/FM radio.

• 👶 Zoomers and bloomers: Retailers are focusing on younger shoppers, especially Gen Z and the up-and-coming Gen Alpha, who are shaping future trends. Though Gen Alpha is still too young to have full spending power, they’re already influencing purchasing decisions, with nearly 75% reportedly driving choices in their households. Retail Dive has a great piece up today looking at how brands are connecting with the next gen of consumers.

AI 🤖 

• Google is giving Gemini Advanced subscribers early access to Veo 2, its new text-to-video generator. Users can now generate eight-second, 720p MP4 videos by entering prompts via the Gemini model dropdown on web or mobile. There’s a cap on how many videos users can create each month, with notifications sent as users approach it. Mobile users can also upload creations directly to TikTok or YouTube. more

• Google is also making Whisk Animate, a tool that lets users transform an image into an eight-second video with Veo 2, available to Google One AI Premium subscribers. It builds on Google’s Whisk tool, which creates AI-generated image mashups. Whisk Animate is available worldwide through Google Labs.

The Ticker

📈 HOW DIGITAL MARKETING STOCKS ARE DOING

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