What were some of the top stories from the world of marketing and video? Each week with Render Perfect Productions, your video marketing experts in Baltimore and beyond, we’ll take a look at marketing news this week. In this edition, we are covering some of the top stories from the week of February 28th to March 4th 2022.
Ukraine and the Battle Against Misinformation
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has marked a new inflection point for social media, and the role that it plays in the modern information ecosystem. Now, after years of dismissals of the influence of social platforms, and how social media trends can drive real world action, we’re seeing faster, more responsive approaches to potentially harmful messaging, which has played a key role in limiting the spread of misinformation, and quashing counter-narratives that have the potential to both erode support and undermine action.
Yet, those same shifts highlight the importance of social platforms as propaganda tools, and how they can be – and have been – used to increasingly control narratives around political and cultural events.
Which begs the question – is it better to have social platforms cut off entirely for certain regions, or does that merely grant more space for government-controlled media to fill those gaps, and dictate messaging as it sees fit?
Of course, none of the platforms themselves have been cut off – both Facebook and Twitter are reportedly either limited or cut off entirely within Russia at present, because of their refusal to comply with the Kremlin’s demands to stop censoring state-affiliated media. But the lack of outside information sources likely has a massive impact on how Russian citizens perceive the action in Ukraine, with various reports showing that many Russians are indeed to support Putin’s decisions, despite almost unanimous worldwide condemnation.
YouTube shifts Brandcast to Upfronts
YouTube pushing Brandcast to the upfronts season, when broadcasters spotlight new programming for potential advertisers, further blurs the line between traditional TV and streaming media. The video platform’s argument is that there’s no longer a meaningful distinction between the channels, while networks have seen their gatekeeper position usurped by online content creators with loyal followings who watch on their own schedules.
“More than ever before, our customers are asking us how they can tap into the streaming boom and continue to reach new audiences,” Debbie Weinstein, vice president of YouTube and video global solutions, wrote in the Google blog post. “Our answer is simple: Today, streaming and TV are one and the same.”
YouTube TV, the unit’s CTV offering, has played an increasingly large role at Brandcast as more consumers cut the cord on broadcast and cable packages. The pandemic further altered that equation, accelerating the adoption of streaming. YouTube’s remote NewFronts show last year granted a lot of airtime to YouTube TV, including by promoting features like “brand extensions” that let viewers send a URL to their smartphone after watching an ad to learn more about the product.
“TV was our industry’s most critical medium for more than a generation. But even those of you who negotiated good rates are paying more for less every year,” Allan Thygesen, president of Americas at Google, said during the May presentation. “This is a moment; an inflection point to reset, to reassess.”
YouTube’s share of the budding CTV market has become formidable. The blog post cited Nielsen data that shows YouTube eats up 50% of ad-supported streaming watch time on CTV among viewers 18 and older. In December, YouTube reached over 135 million consumers on CTV devices in the U.S. alone, Nielsen found.
YouTube often felt like the top dog at the NewFronts, in pre-pandemic times hosting star-studded events at a packed crowd at Radio City Music Hall. Other NewFronts presenters in recent years have included rivals like Snapchat, Hulu and TikTok, along with Amazon, which made its first appearance — albeit a virtual one — last spring.
A bigger spotlight on the upfronts suggests YouTube is going after a different segment of media buyers and potentially different brands — ones that wield larger budgets suited to national TV. Even as TV ratings have struggled in the streaming era, ad space still commands a premium. NBCUniversal, the host of Super Bowl LVI earlier this month, received record-high prices for 30-second spots.
Meta’s NPE Group Launches New App to Help with To Do Tasks
Meta’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team, which recently announced a shift in focus for its approach, has released yet another new app experiment, with its ‘Move’ app designed to help organize group tasks, with in-app rewards for participants.
It’s kind of like the type of incentive you’d give your kids for doing tasks around the house, except instead of pocket money to buy the latest toys, you get digital toys instead, as items and features for your avatar character, which in this case is an alpaca.
Why an alpaca? I mean, why not – the internet seems to be obsessed with drawings of monkeys at the moment, alpacas probably deserve some love too.
It’s essentially a small-scale project management app, where you can assign tasks within a group for more light-hearted, fun rewards. So, project management, but without the threat of being fired for not pulling your weight, with the only impact for such being a less-evolved alpaca in the app.
Which could be good, I guess, though I don’t see it being a massive hit.
I’m also not exactly sure if or how this fits with NPE’s fresh approach either.
Back in December, Meta announced the NPE team would shift its focus to building with and for communities that have “historically been overlooked, underestimated, and undervalued by our industry”. While the latest broad-scale trends can drive greater app adoption, there are many areas where new use cases and functionalities are developing, which may not have the same level of broad appeal, but could lead to significant new shifts.
Meta’s hoping that this approach will help it link into new niches in new markets – but whether Move fits that bill, I’m not clear.
Twitter Moves to the Next Stage with Birdwatch
After a year of testing, Twitter has announced some new updates to its Birdwatch crowdsourced fact-checking program, which enables Twitter users to add notes to Tweets that they believe contain misleading information.
Through Birdwatch, users can add in manual notes and tips on tweets, which can help to provide more context to future readers. And while that could also be problematic, in terms of people using it as a tool to silence dissenting opinions, Birdwatch reports don’t limit a tweet’s reach or performance, they merely provide more context to those that seek it. And if many people are saying it’s false, it probably is, while Twitter’s also working with official fact-checking groups and journalists to add more credibility to the notes.
Now, some users will see Birdwatch notes displayed upfront on tweets in their timeline, and they’ll also be prompted to rate that supplemental information to further qualify the info.
That’ll no doubt raise the ire of free speech activists, who already feel that social platforms are over-stepping the fact-checking mark, but it could be a simple, valuable way to facilitate crowd-sourced fact-checking, while also reducing the reach of questionable claims.
But again, it could also be problematic. You can imagine that some groups will ‘brigade’ these reports if they can, in order to counter claims they don’t like or agree with – though Twitter has some additional qualifiers for its displayed notes.
“To appear on a Tweet, notes first need to be rated helpful by enough Birdwatch contributors from different perspectives. Difference in perspectives is determined by how people have rated notes in the past, not based on demographics.”
So there is a weighting of some sort to the Birdwatch responses, which could eliminate bias.
But the process is still a work in progress, which is why Twitter’s taking its time, and only launching this new update to a small group to begin with.
About Render Perfect Productions:
Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.
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