Shorts and long-form videos on YouTube to be merged into single feed
YouTube has welcomed the success of Shorts in the last few years, and is now looking to capitalise on this by promoting longer form videos within the feed.
Despite contradicting the concept of Shorts, YouTube is looking to maximise user reach across all content types.
There has been confusion about the logistics, as the horizontally formatted long form clips will have to align with the vertically formatted Shorts, so users are intrigued to discover how YouTube combat this issue.
Read more here.
Instagram teases changes to profile displays
Instagram Chief, Adam Mosseri, recently flagged in a Q&A some coming changes to profile grid displays. Instagram has been testing a new vertical grid display, in which square shaped thumbnail images have been switched to longer stills in-stream.
This better aligns with Reels in formatting – making it a translation of the Reels grid into the main feed.
Mosseri has stated that Instagram “would like to do better by the content creators of today”, and as the majority of content on the platform is vertical, it will look better in the long run.
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Google launches update to Trending Now tool
Trending Now is an element of Google Trends, and this new update will provide insight into the search terms that are seeing notable increases in search volume.
This could assist with ad campaigns and SEO planning, providing more data on terms in the user’s industry, region and more. Trending Now’s format has been updated to showcase more insight into each trend. This includes how long the topic has been trending for and total search volume.
Google stated that “a cutting-edge trend forecasting engine is behind our upgraded Trending Now tool. It detects 10 times as many emerging trends as before and refreshes every 10 minutes on average, so you see the latest upward Search swings right as they take off.”
Read more here.
Long ad breaks brought to YouTube’s Connected TV experience
To allow for longer periods of uninterrupted content in the Connected TV experience, YouTube is going to add in more long ad breaks.
YouTube began testing this last year following research that found 79 per cent of viewers would rather a cluster of video ads than shorter ads dotted throughout the video. Viewers responded well to the test, so the viewing experience is being stretched even further.
In addition to this, YouTube stated that “advertisers have more opportunities to connect with their target viewers while minimising interruptions to viewing sessions”, demonstrating that advertisers can still reach users.
Read more here.
Ads are still being displayed alongside harmful content on X
Following the recent race riots in the UK, a new report has found that X is still displaying ads alongside harmful and offensive content. The report, conducted by The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), ads from major brands have been displayed alongside misinformation about the riots.
The CCDH said: “Elon Musk’s social media platform X was running ads near posts from five key U.K. accounts pushing lies and hate in the wake of the Southport attack. The CCDH found that these accounts amassed 260 million views in the week following the Southport attack on 29 July.”
Also identified by the report was the fact that some of the profiles speaking on the riots are part of the Creator Ad Revenue Share Program, meaning that they are receiving financial benefits for posting about the riots.
Read more here.