Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Gathering Its Threads
When Facebook first took off, Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrestled with when to sacrifice ineffable coolness and organic popularity with advertising.
For Instagram Threads, the text-based social platform that’s Meta’s version of the one-time Twitter, there is no such question, because it’s never gained any cultural mindshare.
However, Threads will introduce ads early next year, The Information reports.
The project has reportedly gained steam internally even in the past couple of weeks, due to a burst in new users. Threads limits all political content, which perhaps people need right now, but many new Threads users were also likely ticked-off departures from X since the election, because X has swung largely to promoting conservative accounts. So they aren’t sustainable numbers.
A couple of weeks ago, Zuckerberg said Threads had 275 million users and a million sign-ups per day. That probably trails X by some tens of millions of users, per Sensor Tower data cited by The Information.
Even though Threads avoids news and lacks the social pulse-taking of X, Threads may very well have a larger ad business practically overnight, The Information notes. “Not only does Threads limit political content, but it will have Meta’s sophisticated ad technology behind it.”
Perplexity Pulls The Ripcord
Perplexity, a generative-AI search engine, is also calling it quits on being ad-free.
“We need to invest in building not just a beloved product, but a robust and self-sustaining business,” according to a blog post. “That’s why starting this week, we will begin experimenting with ads on Perplexity.”
And Perplexity actually is experimenting with generative-AI search ad placements. An ad next to the organic result is orthodox. But Perplexity will also try sponsored follow-up questions.
Huh. That’s interesting.
The ads will appear only in the US to start. Pilot advertisers include Whole Foods and Indeed, as well as agencies PMG and Universal McCann.
Advertisers are eager for gen-AI search advertising placements. Partly because they believe ad revenue will have a corrupting influence, so to speak, as advertisers get analytics into how placements work and ways to game the system. Currently, advertisers are peeking through a keyhole to understand what’s behind these LLMs.
Perplexity doesn’t want to hear it.
“While brands are keen on understanding how their companies appear in AI answer engines like ours, we will avoid duplicating the SEO industry where people are implementing arbitrary tactics to improve their rankings at the expense of user utility.”
RIP-vee
Like Crackle, Seeso and Quibi before it, another little streamer has gone to that big data server in the sky.
Per a Deadline report, Amazon announced on Tuesday that it would be phasing out its FAST channel, Freevee, over the coming weeks.
Previously known as IMDb TV, Freevee was home to a few original programs (like “Jury Duty,” featuring the world’s only decent reality star), but primarily served as a vehicle for other studios’ shows, such as “Mad Men” and “Schitt’s Creek,” that were open to getting a check from Amazon, which sold ads against the content.
Before Prime began showing ads, Amazon needed Freevee to increase its CTV supply.
Freevee’s back catalog will still be available to non-Prime customers in front of the paywall, alongside samples of subscriber-only shows (i.e., the first few episodes of “The Boys” and “Fallout”) and other FAST channels.
Reports of this move first surfaced on Adweek as early as February, so it’s not a huge surprise. Still, each defunct app deleted from people’s smart TVs deserves its own small moment of remembrance.
So to Freevee, we say: So long, and thanks for all the inventory.
But Wait! There’s More!
Apple’s AI-summarized notifications are a unique and terrible brand of hilarious. [Morning Brew]
TikTok astrology influencers who foresaw a Harris win are reeling over Trump’s reelection. [Business Insider]
Why The Guardian is no longer posting on X. [The Guardian]
Blame how the media covers tech for the rise of authoritarianism. [Where’s Your Ed At]
Just Eat is selling Grubhub to Marc Lore’s Wonder for $650 million. [The Verge]
