YouTube’s new Brand Pulse Report seems like it could be really useful.

evaluate your brand presence across YouTube by detecting brand mentions via visuals (brand logos, product shots, etc.) and language (audio, video titles, etc.). So, if a creator uses or mentions your product in passing, we recognize it and capture it.

incorporating metrics that demonstrate how your paid ads on YouTube can lead to more views on organic videos — a previously underreported value for paid media — and how users seeing both your paid and organic videos together leads to searches for your brand.

A side-by-side comparison shows two smartphone screens with different scenes and text below indicating 4.1M Paid Views and 451K Organic Views.

If you’re in retail / ecomm, this will feel accurate:

We’re in the middle of a weird under-advertised fall Prime Day. But we’re also preparing for BFCM, so it’s an awkward time to scale spend.

Conversion performance is dropping off, but that’s only because people know Black Friday is coming.

Parents are also getting a new toy catalog each week.

Discretionary funds are either going to unplanned Prime Day Expanded Universe purchases or getting earmarked for later holiday shopping.

(UX tip: don’t ship a catalog and not have some items on your site, Amazon.)

via Northbeam


Meta needs to ditch the horizontal ad placements and replace that asset bucket with one for 4:5 in the ad builder while improving the flexible media system to better align asset size with placement size.


If today’s earlier post wasn’t positive enough for you, the New York Fed also wants to rain on your parade.

September survey says…

households’ inflation expectations increased at the short- and longer-term horizons and were unchanged at the medium-term horizon.

Despite a small rebound in the expected job finding rate, labor market expectations continued to deteriorate with consumers reporting lower expected earnings growth, greater likelihoods of losing jobs, and a higher likelihood of a rise in overall unemployment.


Consumer confidence dipped

Income-based splintering continues

Luxury shoppers are feeling good

Jobs numbers aren’t great

And it’s beginning to look a lot like an expensive holiday season

Prices / inflation are top of mind for almost everyone &

A higher income doesn’t necessarily mean less concern over rising prices.

Best guess: total holiday spend may be relatively stable with past years, but purchase volume will be down.
Basically: less stuff for the same spend.