Broken and Buggy

Today's News

• Meta: 'This Is Fine' (While Budgets Go Up in Flame …

• YouTube's TV Viewership Reigns Supreme

• Gen Zs Give Social Media ‘Main Character Energy’

• Google Takes Out the Dumpster Industry

• U.S. Voters Trust Podcasts Over All Other Media

• PayPal Unleashes the Power of… Arial?

Meta: 'This Is Fine' (While Budgets Go Up in Flames)

Our agency, engageQ, provides engagement and moderation for clients.

So one of our most important tools is a third-party engagement platform that brings in comments and mentions from Facebook, Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and a bunch of other platforms.

But for more than a month now, Facebook’s API has had a huge bug: Third-party platforms have been unable to reply to threaded comments. In other words, replies to replies — which happens a lot in this business.

A month.

It’s been broken for a month.

Meta claims it’s working on it, but honestly, who knows.

Of course, it’s not just the organic side — marketers have been reporting an increasing number of bugs on Meta’s ad platform.

And ad buyers now say Meta’s automated tools are so broken some days, it burns their budgets.

Targeting gone wrong

Marketing Brew covered this in detail today. Several media buyers shared their struggles with the platform, with some opting to avoid AI-powered ad tools altogether.

One CMO, of digital marketing agency MHI Media, faced a costly glitch last month.

Instead of targeting younger audiences mostly on Instagram for a fashion brand campaign, Meta's automated ad tools shifted to an older 65+ audience, mostly on Facebook, resulting in a "high-five-figure" loss for his client.

As a result, the CMO said he’s shifted away from Meta’s Advantage+ AI advertising tool in some cases, opting to manually control campaigns to achieve the same performance they once had on the platform.

Recurring bugs

Other buyers echo these frustrations, reporting frequent bugs like ads not loading and budgets being burned through in hours.

Meta has logged at least a dozen disruptions to its ad tools since Memorial Day, with four marked as "major." The tech giant, however, denies an uptick in issues.

Support woes

Several buyers told Marketing Brew that Meta’s support team, hit by 2023's "Year of Efficiency," has not been particularly helpful in resolving issues either.

In response, some buyers are reallocating budgets to TikTok influencers, but some say that for large-scale spending… there's no place like Meta.

YouTube's TV Viewership Reigns Supreme

As consumers swap channel-surfing for scroll-surfing, YouTube is stepping up as a major player in the TV game.

YouTube now claims 10% of daily TV viewing time in the U.S., making it the top platform for time spent watching TV, according to recent data from Nielsen.

The platform took the lead over Disney, NBCUniversal, and Netflix.

YouTube is the first streaming platform tracked by Nielsen to exceed this share of daily viewership.

The sports surge

EMarketer reports today that the platform’s growth may be attributed to a surge in sports content viewership.

YouTube's CEO told the Financial Times that in the second quarter of this year, sports content alone reached 35 billion hours. That’s a 45% increase year-over-year.

Gen Zs Give Social Media ‘Main Character Energy’

Social media, on the other hand, is eating TV's lunch—particularly when it comes to Gen Z.

Social media use is on the rise across all generations, but Gen Z is leading the way, with a projected 7.7% growth this year compared to just 1.8% for the general population, according to recent forecasts.

Today, eMarketer has some analysis on the three key ways Gen Z is leading social media usage:

1. Instagram usage

Gen Z is set to surpass millennials on Instagram, with forecasts predicting more than 52 million Gen Z users in the U.S. by next year.

• More than three-quarters of Gen Zers will be active on the platform next year, compared with 70% of millennials.

• Users aged 18 to 24 will spend an average of 45 minutes per day on the app—more than any other age group.

2. Reddit engagement

Gen Z is embracing Reddit, with logged-in Gen Z users expected to grow more than 20% in the U.S., reaching 18 million.

• More than a quarter of the Gen Z population will be Reddit users this year, increasing to 40% by 2028.

• Millennials currently dominate Reddit, but their share will decline over the next few years, giving way to Gen Z.

3. Facebook’s relevance

Gen Z is the only generation to increase Facebook usage, with projections predicting an 8% rise this year, reaching nearly 34 million users.

• This year, nearly half of the Gen Z population will be a Facebook user.

• Like all other age groups, users aged 18 to 24 are decreasing their time spent on Facebook year-over-year.

Google Takes Out the Dumpster Industry

Google is cracking down on trash/dumpster listings—literally.

Search Engine Roundtable reports today that several businesses are voicing concerns in the Google Business Profiles forums about their profiles being suspended.

It appears Google is mass disabling Business Profiles across specific industries, including, dumpster services, garage door companies, and personal injury lawyers.

One user chimed in on X, saying:

If you work in or manage any brands in these sectors, you may want to review your listing and, if you’re affected too, consider appealing the decision to avoid any disruptions to your business.

U.S. Voters Trust Podcasts Over All Other Media

For digital marketers aiming to target an engaged audience, podcasts have emerged as the most trusted source of news among U.S. registered voters.

Trust in podcasts

According to Voxtopica’s new survey, 85% of respondents trust podcasts more than any other news and information source, including newspapers, TV, radio, and social media

Almost 80% of voters agree that podcasts encourage them to explore news topics further, while more than 60% believe these shows can shift their opinions on various issues.

Listening habits

How many registered voters are tuning in?

• Nearly half of those surveyed listen to at least one podcast per week.

• One-third said they consume five or more episodes each week.

PayPal Unleashes the Power of… Arial?

PayPal has a new logo, which is giving millennial minimalism—and may or may not have been created in Microsoft Word.

This redesign marks a stark contrast to its previous logo, which featured a dynamic slant, two shades of blue, and the prominent PayPal P's. PayPal says this change will help distinguish it from the sea of fintech brands that utilize blue tones.

Now, it looks like basic black Arial font.

Someone probably paid like $100,000 for this rebrand btw.

- 30 -