Apple is looking to dive into the advertising space. This week we investigate how Apple tracks our data and what their advertising edge will be when they launch. We discuss TikTok’s retaliation to IG, Elon Musks’ vision for Twitter, Google’s new process for advertising and TikTok’s partnership with LinkTree. Let’s get into it.

TikTok Introduces Photo Mode

Photo Mode is a direct copy of IG’s layout and is most likely retaliation for IG copying TikTok. The unique features are that carousels can automatically play and you can add music to them as well. This feature could help spark meme trends and is being introduced alongside new editing tools to help sharpen your uploads.

Apple Advertising

Apple is looking to get a slice of the Google and Meta pie by starting its own demand side platform (DSP). The goal is to use the existing data that Apple has access to from our Iphones, Apple watches and IPads in order to create ad targeting systems that uphold stronger privacy values. For context, 97% of ad revenue at Facebook and 88% of ad revenue at Google makes up their profit margin. Apple obviously makes its profit from its products but ad revenue is a big deal and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Their unique angle will be a customer first business model which will be more “private” then their competitors. How do they pull this off? Well according to their company policies they take our location, our information and other data and put us into a segment with 5000 other individuals that are the most similar to us and feed us ads that are relevant to our grouping. Scary but interesting to know. It may appear that the privacy option to “ask not to track” is a real saving grace for consumers however it is just as likely that Apple may be weakening Google and Meta’s pull to create a push when they decide to launch their DSP in the future. As they still retain really valuable information about us.

Elon Musks Twitter Vision

Elon Musk’s Twitter is coming. Let’s discuss the new changes he’s considering. Firstly, he’s looking at eliminating bots by making Twitter Private. It is estimated that up to 27% of Twitter users are currently bots. This would need to be done privately as doing so publicly would reflect badly on the business. By going private it would also remove the need for content moderation as it would remove advertisers. This approach is a temporary one to restructure the brand with a public vision being the focus after the bots are gone. 90% of Twitter’s income is from ad revenue which is why they are brainstorming subscription models to offset the loss and gain income when it goes public again.

Elon has gone back and forth about whether he will charge users but for now it’s looking like it will remain free with businesses expected to pay a subscription fee instead. Let’s be clear, his vision has changed a lot so take everything with a grain of salt. Twitter would also like to head into an open source algorithm direction where users could choose their own adventure and targeted content. This would be a first for a social platform of this size. Finally it is likely that Twitter could even be rebranded to ‘X’ as Elon looks to create an app “for everything”. What does that mean? We’ll have to wait and see.

Google’s Personalised Ads For Display and Video Campaigns

Google launches a new process: PAIR (Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation). Pair is an agreement between consumers and publishers. For example, if you give permission to share your data with a retailer and also accept data sharing on a separate page, Google will look at your encrypted data, and share ads with you in the spaces where you have elected to be tracked. As your data is encrypted it won’t ever share your data with any of the websites you have visited.

TikTok Is Partnering With Linktree.

The partnership will allow creators to sign into TikTok through Linktree and display up to six videos in their Linktree account. Linktree is said to drive over five million TikTok views every day. This update will allow you to display your latest and most popular videos in your Linktree or hand-select your own. It would appear Linktree is not going anywhere as last week IG announced they were looking to flesh out their bios to remove the need for Linktree in-app. It’s interesting TikTok is not doing the same but quite the opposite by collaborating with their affiliate to help each other.

Thanks for tuning in for another week of big updates. If you like the detail and insights be sure to sign up for our newsletter on our website. This space is always evolving and we hope to deliver the most current and informative updates for your biz. Which was your favourite update? How do you feel about the possible introduction of Apple Advertising? Head to our socials and let us know. We want to hear from you. Until next time.

XOXO OMD SQUAD