Unbe-leaf-able September Media Updates

Welcome to our first newsletter where our ad tech-themed dialogue gets shared with the outside world. Remember, we’re a media agency – we don’t write often – so please be patient with us if our takes are a little too punchy, our grammar isn’t always perfect, and our insights hit a little too close to home.?

With that said, let's get down to business.

In the News

Reddit Publishes 2025 Annual Moments Planning Guide

Reddit shared its 2025 moments on Reddits for marketing planning on LinkedIn, listing out all the big seasonal moments - like BTS and Holiday season - as well as lifestyle moments, sport events and more! Check out more here!

Reddit Introduces Ad Inspiration Library

Reddit launches new ads inspiration library, AI copywriter, and image auto-cropper.?

The new inspiration library allows advertisers to get inspired by Reddit’s most performant ads, find ads relevant to you and your approach, and turn inspiration into action with creative best practices.

In addition to the inspiration library, AI copywriter and image auto cropper are also launched recently, allowing better streamline ad creative and campaign management.

Learn more here!

iOS 18’s Distraction Control Feature’s Impact to Display Ads

iOS 18 is finally available for iPhone users to download onto their devices and to no surprise, there are implications for advertisers. One of the newest features for iOS 18 is within Safari, users can enable a “distraction control” feature that allows them to remove content, including ads, from a page. Now that users can channel their inner Thanos to get rid of ads while they’re browsing sites in Safari, we can expect to see a drop in engagement from these ads.?

One of the ways advertisers will be able to monitor this is by pulling reports from DSPs to compare performance for Safari and Apple devices to see the impact of this change.

Check out here!

Google finally brings campaign-level keyword exclusions to Performance Max

There’s only one thing advertisers want from Google and we’re finally about to get it - the ability to add campaign-level keyword exclusions to Performance Max.?

Why is this important? Previously, advertisers would have to fill out a form and submit it to a Google rep to implement campaign-level negatives, which is a painful process. Soon, advertisers will be able to apply negative keywords at their own discretion and provide more real-time optimization to Performance Max. Additionally, this update to Performance Max will improve the advertiser's ability to ensure Performance Max doesn’t cannibalize Search campaigns.

Read more here!

YouTube Holds the Largest Share Time Spent with TV

YouTube claims 10.4% of daily time spent with TV in the US, according to July 2024 data by Nielsen.?

Topic Searched for on TikTok

As TikTok rolls out the search ads, here’s a quick overview of the top searched topics on TikTok, Instagram, and Google.?

Vendor Updates

Google Introduces New Tools to Help Retailers Tap into Shopping Trends

As the holiday season approaches, Google is adding new product trend insights in the merchant center, which will highlight key shopping search and purchase trends. This tool aims to help retailers jump on viral moments, make better-informed inventory decisions, and ensure the product descriptions use the same terms shoppers use.? Find more details here and other ways how Google is helping retailers to move fast this holiday season.

Reddit x Double Verify

Reddit announced an integration with DoubleVerify to enable Brand Safety and Brand Suitability measurement and in-geo reporting on Reddit’s ads delivery. DoubleVerify classifies content into Brand Safety and Brand Suitability Suitability categories. Key differences between these are:

• Brand Suitability categories require advertisers to select a risk level that’s appropriate for their brand (High, Medium and Low).
• Brand Safety does not require risk levels as, by definition, it is always serious and undesirable for a brand.

Once DV starts reporting on the activities, advertisers then can hone their brand safety and suitability controls on Reddit based on the data they are seeing.

To get started, if you already have a DV representative, contact them directly. If not, contact your Reddit rep and they will help you connect with DV. Read more here.

Google Ads to upgrade Video Action Campaigns (VAC) to Demand Gen

In a not-so-shocking development, Google is sunsetting another campaign type and rolling it into one of their AI campaigns. Video Action Campaigns were Google’s way to optimize towards conversion actions, as opposed to video views. The decision from Google honestly is a logical one, as Demand Gen already optimizes toward conversion actions and is able to expand its reach further with more creative flexibility.

Read more here!

Meta Algorithm Updates - What Advertisers Need to Know

Last month, Meta announced that it’s developing a series of AI-driven updates to its ad platform designed to help advertisers tailor business objectives and better measure incremental impact. It is also giving advertisers the ability to directly integrate 3rd party analytics tools, such as GA4, with plans to add others like Adobe Analytics later. So what does this mean for us?

These updates focus on a few key areas for advertisers:

• Conversion Value Rules: Meta is rolling out conversion value rules, akin to a bid multiplier. This update enables you to assign greater value to specific audience profiles or conversion types, using your first-party data and insights.
• Incremental Conversions: Behold the introduction of a new attribution setting - incremental Conversions. This setting allows you to measure which conversions would not have occurred without the ad being shown. This is expected to roll out to various ad accounts in the second half of 2024, and marks a significant shift from the current model which focuses on the volume of conversions regardless of incrementality.
• 3rd Party Analytics Integration: Meta’s integration with GA4 and others will allow you to share multi-touch data with Meta, enabling you to optimize for the data that matters most to your business.
• Cross-Channel User Journeys: Meta is also updating their algorithm to consider cross-channel user journeys. Taking into consideration a user’s journey across multiple other channels, this update focuses on boosting incremental conversions.

Learn more about the updates here!

Live, laugh, launch campaigns.?

– Arm Candy Ad Ops Team