💾 Reddit on the Rise

Two major announcements by Reddit shook up social media last week

Author

Jeff Sauer
February 28, 2024

📢 TOP STORY

Reddit has struck a deal with Google that allows the search giant to use posts from the online discussion site for training its artificial intelligence models and to improve services such as Google Search.

The arrangement, announced Thursday and valued at roughly $60 million, will also give Reddit access to Google AI models for improving its internal site search and other features. Reddit declined to comment or answer questions beyond its written statement about the deal.

The Google deal is a big step for Reddit, which relies on volunteer moderators to run its sprawling array of freewheeling topic-based discussions. Those moderators have publicly protested earlier Reddit decisions, most recently blacking out much of the site for days when Reddit announced plans to start charging many third-party apps for access to its content.

Google praised Reddit in a news release, calling it a repository for “an incredible breadth of authentic, human conversations and experiences” and stressing that the search giant primarily aims “to make it even easier for people to benefit from that useful information.”

Google played down its interest in using Reddit data to train its AI systems, instead emphasizing how it will make it “even easier” for users to access Reddit information, such as product recommendations and travel advice, by funneling it through Google products.

Separately, the San Francisco-based company announced plans for its initial public offering Wednesday. In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Reddit said it reported net income of $18.5 million — its first profit in two years — in the October-December quarter on revenue of $249.8 million. The company said it aims to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RDDT.

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📰 THREE HEADLINES

Upon landing, mission control said: “Houston, Odysseus has a new home,” confirming the landing of the lunar lander. This mission not only symbolizes the burgeoning synergy between space exploration and commercial innovation but also underscores the vital role of public-private partnerships in advancing humanity's presence in outer space. 

As America embarks on this renewed lunar journey, the fusion of science, technology, and commerce promises to unlock unprecedented opportunities in the space economy and with it an opportunity for brands to be a part of exploring space and form a part of the space economy. It’s now safe for us to say: Welcome to the moon and welcome to the new era of space marketing!

“Hey PMax, can you write this article for me?” We’re not quite there yet – but Performance Max, Google’s AI-based ad product, is getting closer. On Thursday, Google announced a suite of updates to PMax that expand its generative AI creative capabilities.

Google first introduced AI-generated creative in PMax late last year. But the creative was basic, like stills of an object or text generation for metadata, search keywords and product descriptions. The new update brings more complex settings, such as images with depth and multiple people in the foreground and background. PMax will also auto-generate videos out of static image assets.

As gen Z’s buying power grows, so too does the need for their attention and engagement on the platforms they favor. One of the latest to give it a go is Coca-Cola. The drinks giant emerged last week with a brand-new offering in its Coca-Cola Creations series, ‘Happy Tears’, exclusively launching on TikTok for Random Acts of Kindness Day (17 February).

It’s undeniably a straight play to gen Z. That’s one of the things getting people talking. But, mostly, the launch is making waves because it’s been designed with social shopping in mind.

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🤿 DEEP DIVE

Amid fast-growing interest and investment in Connected TV (CTV) across the UK and Europe, a report, The Power and Potential of CTV in Europe, reveals that CTV advertising still suffers from a lack of transparency and need for quality verification. Only 30 percent of advertisers and publishers have full transparency into where ad placements appear, and 27 percent never or rarely have insight into the brand suitability of the shows ads run alongside.

These findings are part of a study conducted by DoubleVerify (DV), a software platform for digital media measurement, data and analytics, in collaboration with IAB Europe, the European-level association for the digital advertising and marketing ecosystem.

For advertisers, CTV is an attractive channel that provides an opportunity to access premium programming at scale — expanding and augmenting audiences they may already reach on linear TV. And while CPMs on CTV are typically higher than those of other digital channels, 51 percent of advertisers also see investing in CTV as a way to achieve cost efficiencies compared with linear TV.

Transparency and measurement were cited by respondents as key issues, with a major challenge for both advertisers and publishers being the availability and quality of measurement data on CTV. 

Despite these obstacles, optimism surrounding CTV remains high. A huge 95 percent of advertisers and 89 percent of publishers strongly believe that addressability and actionability are on the horizon for CTV, which will help advertisers drive outcomes from their campaigns and continue to fuel greater publisher investment.

According to Alex Thomas, Director, Brand Safety & Responsible Investment, GroupM: “The CTV landscape has historically grappled with fragmentation and technological limitations, hindering the development of these vital elements through the ecosystem. While progress has been made, it’s evident there is still room for further advancement, which is key to reducing brand safety and suitability concerns across CTV.”

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