蘑菇AV

National security fears have little effect as users flock to RedNote. Monetization challenges and scalability questions could limit its ability to rival TikTok鈥檚 dominance.

Later acquires Mavely for $250 million: The deal integrates influencer monetization tools, enhancing measurable ROI and full-funnel marketing capabilities.

Time spent on social media is plateauing. Longer videos could keep users around longer while providing more monetization opportunities for platforms. But some short-form creators won鈥檛 be receptive to the shift.

Bluesky, the microblogging alternative to X, has found impressive growth and public interest following the US elections, adding 1 million new users in a single day. However, its murky monetization plans have left its value for marketers unclear.

OpenAI considers its approach to ads: The $157 billion company explores monetization strategies to diversify revenue streams.

Rapid user growth highlights demand for decentralized, ad-free feeds, but scalability and monetization remain critical hurdles for long-term success.

Hampered by unclear monetization strategy and rising costs, Apple鈥檚 AI push faces steep adoption barriers.

That leaves Reddit with two core monetization paths: sell ads against its high-engagement environment, or license the conversations that drive it. When AI companies like Anthropic bypass licensing and extract data anyway, it doesn鈥檛 just undercut Reddit鈥檚 licensing revenues鈥攊t jeopardizes the value proposition of its ad model, too.

YouTube is facing growing competition from ad-free streaming services and needs to preserve engagement while expanding monetization options. While YouTube Premium continues to grow steadily, revenue growth is starting to taper鈥攆rom 21.6% last year to a projected 13.2% this year. Sustaining momentum will require reaching new users and minimizing churn without undercutting the ad-supported base.

With app installs becoming more expensive and in-app budgets rising, AppLovin is positioned at the heart of mobile monetization. The company is betting everything on AI-powered ad delivery, and so far, that bet is paying off. AXON鈥檚 performance is pulling in spend across gaming, ecommerce, and connected TV, giving AppLovin a foothold in markets far larger than its original mobile gaming roots.

Our take: Roblox鈥檚 Commerce APIs unlock a new monetization layer that turns virtual gameplay into real-world storefronts. This indicates that the line between digital and physical retail is blurring. Brands and creators now have an avenue to test exclusive promotions, avatar bundles, and limited-edition merch within the game.

Why it matters: As creators seek stability and long-term income, Vimeo Streaming taps into growing demand for subscription-based monetization and platform control. Subscription models are gaining momentum: US creator revenues from social media subscriptions are projected to hit $350 million in 2025, a 27.4% increase YoY.

By offering insights into monetization and user acquisition performance, Adjust helps marketers refine their strategies and maximize ROAS. Additionally, its fraud-protection capabilities safeguard brands against invalid traffic, ensuring ad budgets are spent efficiently. SparkLabs uses AI-driven creative solutions to maximize ad performance.

And giving creators a new monetization opportunity could entice more to stick with YouTube despite the popularity of TikTok and Instagram for creator marketing.

Meta doubles down on creator monetization for user acquisition. The news: Instagram is testing another pay-to-post program, offering creators money to help increase web traffic and account sign-ups. Influencers and creators can make $100 for every new Instagram user or 1,000 web visits to the app, up to $20,000. The test is open to US creators on an invite-only basis, per Business Insider.

鈥淲hile the impact has been mixed, it鈥檚 clear Google is still actively experimenting with the balance between utility, monetization, and ad visibility,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he stakes are high鈥攁nd advertisers are watching closely.鈥�. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

TikTok is using product evolution as a defense strategy, focusing on creator monetization to shift the narrative from national security concerns to economic impact in alignment with US political priorities. By emphasizing livestreaming as an opportunity to develop creator-audience relationships, TikTok is deliberately crafting dependency networks that would face disruption from regulatory action.

"The affiliate style of advertising is much more graceful in marrying monetization and promotions with different types of content," he said. Affiliate marketing platforms can help brands cater to cost-savvy consumers. In H1 2024, 32.3% of influencer affiliate conversions included a coupon, up from 8.8% the prior year, according to Awin data. 3. Creator partnerships enhance affiliate effectiveness.

The key challenge will be balancing monetization with user experience鈥攖oo many ads could alienate users, while well-integrated sponsored content could enhance the value proposition. Prediction: OpenAI will make a bid for Snap. The acquisition would give OpenAI immediate access to hundreds of millions of users and valuable data on trends, behaviors, and content creation.

YouTube has been busy as of late courting podcasters with new tools and monetization schemes. The company is reportedly working on introducing dynamically inserted, host-read ads, per Semafor, something that would open up even more monetization opportunities for podcasters. It鈥檚 also investing in the user experience: In February, the company said it reached 1 billion monthly podcast users.

鈥淭his creates a potential new monetization surface with higher CPCs and ROI, since placements in AI-generated answers could be more contextually relevant than traditional paid search.鈥�. Ad inventory on Google will likely decline, but placements will become more effective, said Karandikar.

Meta鈥檚 focus on AI-powered ad targeting and content recommendations is enhancing engagement and monetization across its platforms. The company鈥檚 AI models have attracted advertisers by enabling precision targeting in ads, boosting revenues per user, increasing click-through rates, and overall making advertising on Meta platforms more effective.

US marketers will spend over $1 billion more on influencer marketing in 2023 than they did last year, per our forecast. We lay out six tactics to maximize the impact of those dollars.

Meta will provide its brand safety and suitability protocols in the update, including its monetization policies, community standards, and inventory filter, giving advertisers control over the types of content their ads appear next to. Meta said it will keep Threads ad volume low as it tests the rollout. Advertisers will require a Threads account to run ads.