The Top Three

🏆 THE INDUSTRY’S MOST IMPORTANT STORIES TODAY

🥇 THE UNTAPPED MARKET OF “GRANDFLUENCERS”

🍷 Influencers age like fine wine: When you think of influencer marketing, you typically envision brands collaborating with younger creators to target Gen Z or Gen Alpha, but that's shifting. Digiday has a great piece up today about the rise of "silver influencers," creators from Gen X (45-60 years old) and boomers (ages 61-79), catching marketers’ attention.

• To reach more senior shoppers, brands are partnering with influencers from the same generations.

• These generations are shifting their consumption habits, spending time on TikTok and Instagram.

• "Grandfluencers" are also expanding their reach beyond their own age groups, pulling in fans from multiple generations.

🥈 TRUMP COULD DELAY TIKTOK’S FATE (AGAIN)

💣️ 29 days 'til Doomsday: TikTok’s April 5th deadline looms… but it might not be final. President Trump indicated yesterday that he would extend the deadline for the platform to find a U.S.-based buyer if a deal isn't reached. more

If the Chinese government agrees to a sale to a U.S.-based entity, several potential suitors have recently emerged:

• Alexis Ohanian, Reddit cofounder, is advising a bid led by ex-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank.

• Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, reportedly joined a bid with the founder of Employer.com.

• Major players like Microsoft, Oracle , and Perplexity are also in the mix.

🥉 TRADE DESK’S GRIP ON AGENCIES LOOSENS

“It’s complicated” 💔 : Digiday reports today that The Trade Desk (TTD) $TTD ( ▲ 4.75% ) and media agencies are growing apart. Agencies note that their spending isn’t increasing as it once did, while TTD is focusing on direct advertiser deals. It's not a full breakup yet, but both sides are eyeing other options.

• Agencies are spending less with TTD as investments in Connected TV grow, and more Demand-Side Platforms offer options.

• Some agencies are building their own tech to handle ad buying, reducing reliance on TTD.

• Growing concerns over rising data fees and transparency issues are pushing agencies toward other platforms.

• Amazon Ads $AMZN ( ▼ 1.12% ) , with its data-driven CTV offering, is now gaining traction as a strong competitor.

Today’s Other News

📰 EVERYTHING ELSE THAT MATTERS

Advertising 📣

• Google $GOOGL ( ▼ 0.73% ) said it plans to explore ads in its new AI Mode, using insights from ads in AI Overviews to shape its approach. However, ad buyers warn that what works in AIOs may not translate well to AI Mode, as ads could feel more intrusive and lead to lower click-through rates due to the feature's focus on keeping users engaged within the conversation. more

• 📍 A small change for advertisers: Google Ads has updated its interface for selecting regions/locations with a new "add locations in bulk" button that lets you add multiple locations at once. more

• “You were the chosen one!”: Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 0.04% ) is now showing why specific ads are displayed in Bing search results. By clicking the down arrow next to the URL in an ad snippet, users can view a dialogue window explaining why the ad was displayed. more

• Meta $META ( ▼ 0.44% ) has some new ad rules for marketers targeting audiences in Singapore, with advertiser verification starting in April and a June 2025 deadline. more

  • Verify the Ad’s Beneficiary and Payer: You’ll need to verify who benefits from and who pays for the ad.

  • Verified Information for Disclosure: All ads targeting Singapore must display the name of the individual or organization paying for/benefiting from the ad. This info will appear on the ad's infosheet and in the Ad Library.

Search 🔍

• Google has notified Local Service Ads advertisers that new reviews will now only be accepted through their Google Business Profile link. Old LSA review links no longer work. more

  • Starting in early 2025, existing customer reviews will also be managed from your GBP, but will still appear on both LSAs and your GPB. An affiliated public GBP is now required to run LSAs.

• 👋 Byeeee, forced links: Google has shut down its (mostly hated) new page annotations feature, which inserted links into your content without your consent and redirected users to search. Initially available in the iOS Google app, the feature highlighted "interesting entities" on webpages but has now been disabled and removed from Google’s documentation. more

Social Media 📱

• ⌛️ 6 days until Meta’s CapCut rival: Instagram shared new features yesterday for its upcoming video editing app, Edits, set to launch on March 13th. more

  • You can manage multiple video projects at once via a “Projects” tab.

  • A “Cutouts” editing tool lets you isolate specific elements in clips.

  • Edited clips will feature a “Made with Edits” tag on IG.

• Threads is testing an “Interests” section on user profiles. Some users are seeing a prompt to "Add interests" to their profile, which will then be displayed to profile visitors, potentially helping brands with niche topics connect with followers. more

• LinkedIn’s EU user base rose slightly in the second half of 2024, with 52 million active users and 142 million logged-out visits, up from 51.9 million in October, according to its recent EU disclosure report. more

  • These numbers shed some light on the platform’s active user base, beyond the billion-member count it often highlights. LinkedIn’s reported EU active user count is 52 million out of 184 million members, meaning only 28% of its European audience is active.

  • The professional network also saw an 11K increase in scam reports and a 13K rise in fake profiles reported by users in the app.

AI 🤖 

• 🤝 Going A(I)LL in: A new survey from Gartner found that 3 out of 4 marketing teams now use generative AI, and most consumers are comfortable with AI in advertising. more

  • Hype vs. reality: Despite investing nearly half their budgets, almost 90% of CMOs faced performance issues last year, with nearly half having to cut underperforming campaigns short.

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