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Snapchat's focus on "sound-on" video ads has been appealing to its entertainment clients.

The behavior on the app is very different as you want to focus more on shorter content, whereas on Instagram, people tend to watch longer videos."

Snapchat says its vertical video ads are "as good as television" — and in some ways better — because users can choose to skip ads, swipe up to interact with them, and advertisers can use more granular targeting than TV. But with AdAge reporting in November that the average Snapchat video ad lasts less than three seconds and Snapchat counting a video "view" as soon as the video opens, it remains to be seen whether its ads are more effective than those on TV

Facebook has indicated that brands should pay to promote their content, but our research shows that organic content leads to better buying actions.

While some posts will get more reach after two days, much of the reach is captured in this methodology, as the half-life of a Facebook post has historically been only 30 minutes.

If you're an advertiser, there's a lot to think about here, especially the integrations that companies like Netflix are quietly selling to defray the cost of producing jaw-droppingly expensive fare like House of Cards. With reality on the rocks and scripted shows in a constant battle for the best teleplay, it's worth hitching your wagon to the right star.

I said a while back that linear cable would never sell premium inventory programmatically; I'm sticking with that. What's changed is linear cable likely will be unrecognizable in 10 years—even HBO is decoupling its highly prized service from a traditional cable sub

TV subscriptions are getting sold differently as consumers express their displeasure with the ever-pricier cable subscription model. That means more and more inventory is delivered in apps and through browsers. And that means programmatic sales, for sure.

consensus seems to be that it leaves advertisers scrambling to move money from linear cable to digital. That gets characterized without fail as a vote of no confidence in network programming, but it's really not; it's a vote of no confidence in the cable industry.

1. Self-Interest These are your bread and butter subject lines—you should be using them most frequently. They are usually direct and speak to a specific benefit your audience will gain by opening the email.

2. Curiosity If self-interest subject lines work because they communicate a direct benefit of opening the email, curiosity-based ones succeed for the exact opposite reason. They pique the interest of subscribers without giving away too much information, leading to higher opens. 

3. Offer Do you like free stuff? Do you like to buy things? So does your email list.

4. Urgency/Scarcity This is the most powerful type of subject line you have at your disposal. Subject lines that communicate urgency and scarcity tell readers they must act now. 

5. Humanity Don’t forget to remind your list about the person or people behind your products.

The lesson from the influencer marketing scandals of the past year is that using people who are influencers merely because of their follower count is a losing proposition. But that doesn’t mean influencer marketing is not valuable. The key is to seek out relationships with influencers who have truly earned their influence. You should be looking for people who have real respect, trust and authority in your industry, or in an area that at least relates to your industry. The pitch here is a genuine exchange of value, where you bring something to the table for the influencer (other than just a hefty check), and they contribute their sincere endorsement and amplification to their audience.

38 of 72 Instant Articles launch partner publications including the New York Times and Washington Post have ditched the Facebook controlled format according to a study by Columbia Journalism Review.

The problem is that for society as a whole, this leads to a demonetization and eventual defunding of some news publishers, content creators and utility providers while simultaneously making them heavily reliant on Facebook. This gives Facebook the power to decide what types of content, what topics, and what sources are important. Even if Facebook believes itself to be a neutral tech platform, it implicitly plays the role of media company as its values define the feed. Having a single editor’s fallible algorithms determine the news consumption of the wired world is a precarious situation.

the real problem only manifests when Facebook shifts directions. Its comes to the conclusion that users want to see more video, so the format gets more visibility in the News Feed. Soon, publishers scramble to pivot to video, hiring teams and buying expensive equipment so they can blast the content on Facebook rather than thinking about their loyal site visitors. But then Facebook decides too much passive video is bad for you or isn’t interesting, so its News Feed visibility is curtailed, and publishers have wasted their resources and time chasing a white rabbit… or, in this case, a blue one.