WARC Talks: 3 in 15 – Working with creators

In this episode of the WARC podcast, Lena Roland, Head of Content for WARC Strategy talks to Catherine Driscoll, Commissioning Editor for EMEA, about the latest WARC Guide to working with creators.

As the digital media landscape continues to evolve apace, new dynamics are emerging between brands and the creators they partner with online. Creators are challenging established brands by entering the packaged goods space; think MrBeast Burger, or PRIME. 

This episode also addresses best practices for brands partnering with creators and how to measure the impact of influencer campaigns.

Listen to the full episode here

Timestamps

01:19 – Evolving brand-creator relationships.

04:58 – Creators and physical products.

07:53 – Best practices for working with creators.

11:15 – Measuring the impact of influencer campaigns.

14:22 – Diversity and equity in influencer marketing.

See the full list of WARC podcasts here

WARC Media Platform Insights: YouTube

YouTube continues to command a strong position in the online video advertising market and is actively looking for ways to forge deeper connections with viewers, creators and brands through multi-format video strategies.

Context 

YouTube is prioritising Shorts and CTV engagement, and is innovating with unskippable 30-second ads and “pause experiences” on TV to help marketers engage audiences across screens and achieve both performance and brand-building goals.

Takeaways 

• Ad investment with YouTube is set to rise 4.0% in 2023 to reach $30.4bn

That marks a turnaround from Q4 2022 when ad revenue declined 8.8% year-on-year, as marketers shifted investment to retail media and search. But growth is expected to resume in 2023, at more than double the rate of growth recorded in 2022. WARC Media forecasts YouTube’s revenue growth to accelerate 10.3% in 2024, to reach $33.5bn by the end of that year.

• Commerce brands are expected to spend $4.1bn on YouTube ads in 2023 

This is a 4.6% rise on 2022. Retail remains YouTube’s most important category for ad investment, but growth from other sectors has been harder to achieve. While some categories will see double digit spending increases in 2023, including technology and electronics (+13.9%) and toiletries and cosmetics (+12.1%), figures elsewhere are more modest.

• YouTube advertisers can reach half of all internet users globally. More than one billion hours of video are watched every day on YouTube

YouTube is the world’s most popular online platform, with an adult advertising reach estimated at 2.07 billion people, almost twice as much as TikTok and Instagram respectively. YouTube Shorts (60 seconds or less) will provide more opportunities for marketers to reach new audiences, but its 50 billion daily viewer total is some way behind the 140 billion daily views achieved by Instagram Reels; under-18s, meanwhile, spend on average 60% longer on TikTok than with YouTube content.

• YouTube has overtaken Netflix as the biggest TV streaming platform in the US

YouTube accounted for 22.9% of OTT viewing in March 2023. It is also the most popular channel for US Gen Zs to catch up with sports news, and last year it was the most popular platform for both music and podcast listening in the US.

APAC is a key growth region for YouTube – from live shopping and Shorts to gaming – while in Latin America, YouTube delivers brand impact more cost-effectively than any other video platform, according to research by Kantar.

Platform Insights is a new series of reports exclusive to WARC Media subscribers. These include an overview of platform investments, media consumption and performance insights. More information is available here.

The complex world of virtual influencers

Virtual influencers, models, and KOLs are a growing trend and while they present opportunities there are also significant issues that marketers need to think about when engaging.

Why it matters

Virtual influencers aren’t particularly new, with brands ranging form Samsung, to Balmain, to LG, to Magnum deploying these technologies, some as far back as 2018. But with the emergence of AI, the use cases and the questions surrounding the tech become tougher.

The good

The benefits for brands include hyper-flexibility to campaign needs, video-game tie-ins, and inherent cross-channel applications.

As Jing Daily argues, there are opportunities in the metaverse-like virtual worlds (still), as well as a broader opportunity for gamification designed to speak to gaming-friendly Gen-Z.

Arguably, the strongest opportunity lies in the branded possibilities of virtual characters – such as those made famous by their video game manifestations. Meanwhile, the stronger argument is that they can be a lot cheaper than real influencers.

The bad

Sixth Tone takes a very different angle on the story, noting the increasingly sexist and objectifying creations of AI-generated virtual models as they grow both on social media and as instruments for brand promotions – in short, the male gaze appears to be baked into many of these models.

The report finds that many such AI-generated images look to an ultra-sexualised, unrealistic and toxic idea of women, through a kind of doll-like quality. For marketers, aside from the considerable ethical problems, there is also the issue that female models typically advertise clothes bought by women.

As Xu Ke, a graduate student at the China Academy of Art, quoted by Sixth Tone, wrote: “Can creators be aware that images of female models should serve females?”

Sourced from Jing Daily, Sixth Tone, WARC

Meta tests news blocking in the face of legislative pressure

Meta faces new rules in Canada and California that are deeply reminiscent of recent regulatory changes in Australia – some of the tactics it is using to resist the changes are deeply reminiscent too – but it is likely that these laws will pass despite protests.

Why it matters

It’s strange to see both Meta – the owner of Instagram and Facebook – and, to an extent, Google repeat the unsuccessful tactics they deployed in Australia, where collective bargaining laws now exist. It means that technology firms now need to pay local publishers in the country for linking to news content or making it available on their platforms. 

As much in California as Canada, and Australia before it (where there were hints that news could just be turned off), the effort has provided politicians with useful ammunition against the company, as their plucky states/countries stand up to Big Tech incarnate.

What’s going on: bargaining laws on the rise

In Canada: Meta is gearing up to test news blocking for a sample of Canadian users across its Facebook and Instagram properties, according to reports in The Toronto Star.

• The tests, which echo some similar measures from Google that also blocked news links, are a response to a law currently going through the Canadian senate.
• The Online News Act emulates much of Australia’s News Media bargaining code by providing collective bargaining abilities for news outlets, arbitration, and a preference for voluntary agreements, according to the Canadian Government.

In California: Threats to remove news content from users in Meta’s own home state just a day before the California Assembly voted to advance the Journalism Prevention act to the State Senate appeared to have strengthened the resolve of lawmakers, the Sacramento Bee reports.

• California’s draft law is similar, in that it requires platform companies to pay a percentage of ad revenues to publishers as a “journalism usage fee” which is then intended to go toward funding staff at newspapers around the state. Smaller publishers will also be allowed to negotiate jointly with platforms.
• Similar to arguments elsewhere, Meta argues that instead of helping struggling local publishers, funds would flow toward major publications out of state. It has also argued that less than 3% of content on the platform is news.

Did it work in Australia?

When Australia’s News Media Bargaining code came into force in early 2021, the story was closely followed around the world – an impact that likely influenced the above laws.

But its impact has not been an unalloyed success. Both Google and Meta appeared to set about making deals with publishers even ahead of the law coming into force. These tended to go to the largest and loudest publishers in the country, while the government was often reluctant to step in and designate platforms, thereby ‘forcing’ negotiations, as it was characterised by Meta. Despite this view, it’s light touch.

Imperfect as the law is, it appears to have been quite effective for publishers, who received around $150m USD ($200m AUD). This is according to Columbia Journalism School’s Bill Grueskin who has studied the effectiveness of the law.

Sourced from Toronto Star, Government of Canada, NPR, Sacramento Bee, Columbia Journalism Review, WARC

Adidas puts unsold Yeezy stock back on sale, proceeds to be donated

Yeezy come, not so Yeezy go: Adidas is selling remaining inventory stock designed by Ye – the artist formerly known as Kanye West – and donating a “significant amount” to organisations working to combat discrimination and hate. 

The decision follows the designer’s repeated antisemitic comments and is a move that aims to end the ethical and financial nightmare of the company’s conscious decoupling from Ye.

Why it matters

Brands exist in increasingly political times and the problems they face contain many complexities that don’t tend to occupy the conversation at the same volume as the central issue – but they are real. Adidas’ solution, while not devoid of problems, seeks to end the issue as soon as possible and start afresh, though there is a lot of inventory to sell.

But there’s a weird brand story here too. Despite the toxic association, it appears that enthusiasm for Yeezy sneakers remains strong.

The story

According to a press release from the company, a range of existing designs will be made available to consumers (through Adidas’ websites) for the first time since parting ways with West. These will be a series of three releases that echo the ‘drops’ that helped make the brand a streetwear icon.

Adidas is contractually obliged to honour the partnership’s 15% royalty contract, which means that Ye will receive some of the money from the sale – a fact that some Jewish groups, speaking to the New York Times, felt to be “highly problematic”. The company has, in fairness, attempted to stop payments but was prevented by a New York court from doing so. 

The sportswear giant cut ties with the rapper in October 2022, a move that would leave as much as €1.2 billion of unsold inventory and end one of the company’s most profitable brands. The company adds that it chose to see through production of the stock to protect supply chain partners.

Key quote

“We believe this is the best solution as it respects the created designs and produced shoes, it works for our people, resolves an inventory problem, and will have a positive impact in our communities. There is no place in sport or society for hate of any kind and we remain committed to fighting against it,” said Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden in a press release.

Sourced from Adidas, The New York Times, WARC, Bloomberg