This week, in data
Meta took a swing for the worse, especially across conversion metrics, as back to school started in earnest last week. Need-state spending naturally increases around big moments in our shared culture.
No matter how siloed and personalized our internet has become, the kids still go back to school in mid-August.
It’s no surprise then that YouTube is also having a dynamic week. The youth turn to YouTube for refreshers and explainers after a long summer off. No surprise that auction metrics are more expensive and conversions increased.
Looking at share of spend: more budgets flowed to the smaller platforms this week, as advertisers continue to seek alpha in new channels. The proverbial “abandon ship from Meta” moment that everyone is looking for will likely never happen. This isn’t the stock market.
But many smaller channels can provide profitable net new customer acquisition, depending. The challenge is scale. How much can you spend profitably?
The mid-September CPM spike is only about four weeks away. More info to come next week. Until then, keep testing and preparing your funnels for Q4.
In other news: in case you missed it, Northbeam is having our first ever conference!
We are hosting 150 high-spending advertisers, ad platforms, and senior marketing leaders for intense discussions about the future of media and AI.
For two days in September, we’ll take over ASPIRE (The One World Trade Center Observatory in NYC) for the most exclusive conference in the marketing industry.
Speakers include:
Kat Cole, CEO of AG1
Hudson Leogrande, Founder, Comfrt
Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap
And many more!
However, we’re also doing an exclusive giveaway: flights, hotel, travel and transportation, plus free attendance to the conference.
Hope to see you there!
📱 Layers destroyed a generation of assumptions about short-form TikTok content performance. It doesn’t matter when you post, if it’s scheduled, how long it is. Read the deck.
🎬 Google will use generative AI to fill in missing Performance Max video aspect ratios. It's on by default. Opt-out by September 4th.
🔍 ChatGPT now draws a higher share of Google paid clicks than any other top destination. Users are starting at Google and ending up in AI: the lines between the two blend ever further.
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