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Best Branded Content & Native Advertising Examples of 2022
This isn’t our first rodeo – we’ve been highlighting the best branded content for years. Find more inspirational… Visit page
Content rights
Edition #386 On why content rights will plague ChatGPT, ad growth slows in 23 and universities… Visit page
Best Content Marketing Examples 2022
Each week in our newsletter we feature a campaign of the week, when it includes… Visit page
Media Strategy Mastery
Edition #385 On Netflix coming into ads too late, Cognizant branded content and personal brands. This… Visit page
SAAS Content Marketing, a 10 step guide
This guide provides an introduction to the SAAS content marketing. Software as a service companies (SAAS) see content marketing… Visit page
Snap Spotlight
Edition #365
Did paying creators directly pay off? A new native ad network and FOS.
One big thing
Last year Snap spent $250m on its Spotlight Creator Programme. You may recall, they would feature content on their Spotlight channel and make cash rewards to the creators. It appeared to be a defensive position against TikTok. But how did it fare?
‘One year ago we launched Spotlight to lower the barrier to content creation and shine a light on the most entertaining Snaps created by the Snapchat community, no matter who created them,' -Snap
Through 2021, 12,000 creators have collectively been paid over $250m!. That would be an average of $21k each. Creators have quit their jobs, to pursue this. Which didn’t always work out when they couldn’t reliably recreate their initial success.
Melles started posting videos in March and Snap, the company that makes Snapchat, sent him a message in April offering him thousands of dollars after one of his videos racked up 300,000 views in 24 hours. Melles got a $19,600 payment from Snap for the video, and he quit his Wendy’s job a few days later.
But bumpiness aside, that is 12,000 content creators who have received tangible motivation to keep creating.
So how should we think about success of this programme? Strategically it was aimed to protect against TikTok and keeping the best creators onboard. On a user basis, Snap ended the year with 319m DAUs, 20% year over year growth. An increase of 54m.
Against a climate where TikTok grew 500m users. Did Snap win out? Not on the growth side. But maybe if they didn’t do this execution, they could have lost more?
Their average ARPU over the past 12 months was $13.64 globally, so those 54m users could have contributed about $736m In revenues. Their stock priced closed 2021 at $47.03, against a price of $50.07 at the end of 2020. However the end of 2021 marked a decline in tech stocks.
I think the real asset is the relationship they’ve built with the 12,000 creators. What can they do there, to help them grow? And to continue to push the boundaries on Snap. How can they help be the best Snap it can be? Those are the questions I think Snap should be diving into.
A concerted effort to promote the best of Snap spotlight outside Snap would help remind users and get them to come back too. That would be helpful. I can't recall any creators off the top of my head.
What can others learn from this? I do think this is a good model to learn from. You are not just paying the best advocates of your platform directly. But you are paying for new content assets. And also all the other content that is produced.
Notable stories this week
Paved introduces the Paved Ad Network and Native Ad Editor, enabling newsletter publishers to monetize with premium native advertising.
New creators should start with a newsletter in a Web3 world.
How gated content and native advertising can work together.
Radisson’s new hotel brand has a dedicated space for content creators.
Google says it classifies AI-generated content as ‘spam’.
Lightbeam.tv is coining branded video on demand as CTV ad spending grows.
iHeartMedia is tripling its branded podcast content.
All advertising looks the same these days. Blame the moodboard.
Substack’s growth spurt brings growing pains.
CNN+ launch may be off to a bumpy start.
Google Search is falling behind.
Is streaming just becoming cable again?
Deals/M&A
Validity acquires email campaign platform MailCharts. Congrats Tom!
OpenWeb acquires AdYouLike for $100m. Congrats to both teams!
Glip, a creator tool suite for gamers to create and monetize has raised $3m.
Campaign of the Week
Front Office Sports with Fidelity. Rex Champman interviews athletes about their second acts. Visit page
How to make a content calendar
So you’ve nailed your content strategy and now you’re ready to implement it. You’ve got tons of… Visit page
Guide to Branded Content
Branded content is content created for a brand by a third party, to live on their site. The… Visit page
Content Marketing ROI
In this post we establish what your content ROI is, how to calculate it and explain it to… Visit page
Sell More Content
Nudge Nudge provides measurement and intelligence to help publishers sell more sponsored content and scale their native/branded content… Visit page