ClickZ Digital Ad Platform Newsletter | 🎥 TikTok Goes Long-Form

Editor’s Pick 🌟

Navigating Uncertainty: Google Strategies for Growth
By Sam Carter, CEO of Fospha

Marketing thought leadership has a tendency towards binaries. The funnel is either completely dead or very much alive. Brand marketing is either pointless or the solution to all your problems, and ChatGPT is ending 30 years of search overnight.

At Fospha, we love the measurement challenge of any new channel that offers our clients ways to reach more customers. However, Google is still very much the biggest advertising platform. Performance Max (PMAX) and Search products alone represent around 30% of our clients’ digital share of wallet.

In uncertain times, it’s more important than ever for brands to nail these core channels, so we produced the definitive best practice guide on PMAX and Paid Search. Here were our top findings:

• ⚖️ Best performing brands allocate 55% of Google budget to PMAX and 12% to Paid Search.

• 🏆 Brands that pair Search and PMAX with ~50% of their budgets in YouTube, Demand Gen and Paid Social see optimal results.

• 🎨 Especially for PMAX, high-volume creative is key for AI-powered optimization.

Download the full playbook for free.

Sector Spotlight 🎥

SOCIAL MEDIA MONETIZATION

Ads Coming Soon To Threads: Meta Expands Reach To More Than 30 Countries

Meta’s decision to introduce ads on Threads across more than 30 countries marks a pivotal strategic shift for the platform, signalling its transition from a clean, ad-free environment to a full-fledged monetization engine within the broader Meta advertising ecosystem. Marketers now gain seamless access to Threads users by extending existing ad campaigns via Meta’s Ads Manager, eliminating the need for new creative assets and dramatically expanding campaign reach with minimal operational friction.

For marketing professionals, this move transforms Threads from a speculative channel to an actionable opportunity, amplifying audience segmentation and cross-platform synergy alongside Facebook and Instagram. As Threads continues to carve out its distinct identity post-TwitterX turbulence, its integration into Meta’s ad infrastructure presents a compelling, scalable new opportunity for brands seeking to leverage unified campaign management and maximize ROI across Meta’s platforms.

SOCIAL MEDIA INNOVATION

TikTok Introduces Creator Academy to Nurture and Professionalize Aspiring Influencers

TikTok’s Creator Academy marks a pivotal step in the platform’s maturation, offering structured, free education in storytelling, video production, creator commerce, and responsible engagement for influencers at all stages. By investing in formal training and robust resources, TikTok strategically elevates content quality and creator professionalism, creating clear pathways for talent to evolve from casual posting into sustainable, brand-savvy entrepreneurship. This move directly responds to increased competition within the creator economy as platforms vie for loyalty and higher-value content.

For affiliate and performance marketers, the Academy’s strong focus on eCommerce tools and affiliate integration signals unprecedented opportunity. By equipping creators with deeper analytical skills, compliance education, and partnership know-how, TikTok builds an ecosystem where brands can execute scalable, predictable, and authentic influencer strategies, especially leveraging micro and mid-tier talent. Marketers who recognize and engage with this professional shift will secure a competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving digital advertising landscape.

AI-DRIVEN MARKETING

Brands Race To Dominate AI Search For Premium Digital Visibility

Brands face a new imperative as consumers shift from traditional search engines to AI chatbots, prompting advertising firms and tech startups to create tools that measure and optimize brand visibility within AI-generated search results. With up to 80% of consumers using AI-driven results for significant portions of their searches and a 25% drop in organic web traffic reported, marketers must adapt digital content for AI platforms to remain competitive. Adopting AI-centric monitoring and content optimization now determines brand relevance and performance in a rapidly changing search ecosystem.

VIDEO CREATION INNOVATION

Instagram Edits Surpasses 7 Million Downloads, Redefining Video Creation for Creators

SOCIAL MEDIA MONETIZATION

TikTok Promotes Longer Videos To Boost Creator Earnings And Advertising Opportunities

TikTok’s strategic pivot toward long-form content signals a transformative opportunity for marketers seeking expanded ad placements and improved revenue potential. By encouraging creators to produce videos longer than one minute—backed by data showing users now spend half their app time on such content—TikTok is not only adapting to shifting consumption patterns but also positioning itself to compete directly with platforms like YouTube, where longer videos fuel more lucrative ad models.

This move is reinforced by TikTok’s new Creativity Program, which incentivizes creators with payouts up to 20 times higher than previous models, provided they embrace longer formats. For marketing professionals, this evolution presents a dynamic landscape where meaningful storytelling and brand messaging can be leveraged within longer video formats, ultimately reshaping engagement strategies and unlocking greater eCommerce and advertising potential.

INFLUENCER RANKINGS

Cristiano Ronaldo Leads 2025 Instagram Followers With Global Icons Close Behind

Cristiano Ronaldo, with 652 million followers, leads Instagram’s top accounts in 2025, followed by Lionel Messi and Selena Gomez, demonstrating the platform’s dominance for global celebrity engagement. For marketers, these profiles illustrate the power of personal branding and the reach that high-follower accounts provide for eCommerce partnerships.

Influencer Corner 📢

Optimization Hub ⚙️

SEARCH INNOVATION

Optimize Digital Content for Maximum Visibility in the Age of AI Search

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) integrates traditional SEO with AI-focused strategies, ensuring content is both visible in classic search results and cited by AI models like ChatGPT or Perplexity. Marketers must structure content to answer specific questions, prioritize authority, and track AI-driven citations. Adapting to GEO is essential for maintaining discoverability in an AI-driven search landscape.

DISCOVERY COMMERCE INNOVATION

TikTok Shop Accelerates Content-Driven Shopping With Its New Discovery Commerce Playbook

TikTok Shop’s newly released playbook, developed with Accenture Song, provides marketers and brands actionable frameworks for driving growth through discovery commerce, leveraging real-time creator content and robust measurement. With TikTok Shop rapidly capturing eCommerce market share, ignoring these trends risks falling behind competitors capitalizing on content-driven online retail.

INNOVATIVE PERSONALIZATION STRATEGIES

Personalize Customer Journeys With Privacy-First Data and Real-Time Interactions

Cookieless personalization is reshaping digital marketing by requiring brands to use first-party and zero-party data, contextual targeting, and server-side solutions instead of third-party cookies, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA. This shift enables marketers to maintain effective, consent-driven customer engagement while safeguarding user privacy. Marketers must adapt quickly to sustain relevance and trust.

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