?? YouTube: Big Screens Driving Growth

Last Week from The Keyword

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1. Google & YouTube announced ?they are “reaching more than 150 million people on Connected TV screens in the U.S.” and seeing growth internationally.

The Connected TV industry is expanding and catching up with Traditional TV. The major streaming platforms are slowly moving into live sports. YouTube with the NFL in the U.S. Amazon Prime with Premier League in the U.K. And Netflix, who bid for the Formula One rights. (The Keyword )

2. Meta’s Reels now account for 20% of the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram. Earlier this year Zuckerberg said, “Reels is the fastest-growing format we've ever seen in our history”. Reels has a $10bn annual run rate which shows advertisers are embracing Reels too. For comparison, TikTok’s ad business is projected to be $13bn. (Reuters )

3. Threads has lost more than half its users since launch, while?Elon claims ?record X usage.?Mark Zuckerberg told staff the initial drop is "normal" and said improved features are needed to stabilize app retention. The first major upgrade since the comments are the separate ‘For You’ & ‘Following tabs’. (BBC )

4. Meta is planning to launch AI-powered chatbots as a new way to search and get recommendations. The?FT reported ?(behind a paywall) that ‘AI Personas’ could be integrated into Meta’s apps next month.?Zuckerberg has been open ?about their “focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways”. (Tech Crunch )

5. YouTube announced 6 new Shorts features to better challenge TikTok & Reels.?The features include a vertical live Shorts feed and a tool to transform regular YouTube videos into Shorts. YouTube says 2 billion logged-in users are watching Shorts each month, and watch time and monetization are increasing. (YouTube Blog )

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