We Are Social Asia’s Tuesday Tune Up

WARC upgrades TikTok adspend forecast by $2bn

WARC has upgraded TikTok’s 2023 adspend by $2bn to $15.2bn, as 75% of marketers plan to increase activity on the platform. The platform has become an integral part of advertising, particularly in reaching younger audiences.” TikTok plays a growing role in culture around the globe. Its potential ad reach stands at a reported 1.05 billion users, including 409.1 million users aged 18 to 24,” Alex Brownsell, head of content at WARC Media, explained. This comes despite ongoing discussions around the future of TikTok following the US’s decision to ban TikTok on government issued mobiles, a number of other countries, including the UK, France and New Zealand, are following suit.

MLS and UFC partner with TikTok 

As TikTok doubles down on sports content, it has announced a new partnership with Major League Soccer (MLS) and UFC. Sports content will already appear on the ‘for you’ page if the user consumes such content regularly, but TikTok has also been testing a new feed dedicated entirely to sport.

The partnership with MLS will bring exclusive content and in-app programming, among other features. Fans will have access to the “MLS Hub,” which will feature new content from MLS clubs and players and with the launch of a Club Creator Network, TikTok creators will be paired with MLS clubs to create content, working together to share content exclusive to the app. 

TikTok has also extended its partnership with UFC, producing original live and video content on demand. The UFC TikTok pages now have 23 million followers combined that post livestream content, behind-the-scenes footage, and athlete interviews.

Snapchat adds new parental controls 

Last year, Snapchat launched parental controls that allowed parents to review and filter what their teenagers see on the app. The company has now announced that it will add content filtering capabilities that will allow parents to restrict content that is identified as sensitive or suggestive. Parents can toggle on the “Restrict Sensitive Content” filter in Snapchat’s Family Center to activate. This means users won’t be able to see such content on stories and spotlight, but it will not control content chats, snaps and search. Snapchat has also released its content guidelines so that everyone can see what kind of posts may pop up on the recommended page.

Source: Snapchat

LinkedIn Launches New ‘Podcast Academy’ to Expand its Podcast Network

LinkedIn has launched the ‘LinkedIn Podcast Academy’, which will provide those interested in starting a podcast with the knowledge they need to make it successful.

As per the company, “The LinkedIn Podcast Academy is a 6-month incubator pilot, which will connect emerging business podcasts with exclusive programming, coaching, tools and LinkedIn co-branding to expand and better reach their audience.”

The news follows on from the LinkedIn Podcast Network that the company launched last year – professionally driven podcasts that focus on helping users enhance their career opportunities. 

Meta launches paid verification on Instagram and Facebook in the US

Meta has launched the greatly anticipated paid verification on Instagram and Facebook in the US for a monthly fee of $11.99 on the web and $14.99 on mobile. Users can now join the waiting list for the service to get “a badge, proactive impersonation protection and direct access to customer support.”

Source: Meta

In other news

Twitter is allowing users to opt out of ads in certain categories. Could this mean better targeted advertising across the platform?  👀 TikTok is giving users more freedom in switching things up – bored of the same content? you can now refresh your feed to retrain your algorithm. The app is also now showing a “Use template” prompt on posts so we can easily jump on trends 😏 Instagram has decided that stories aren’t accessible enough and are testing quicker ways to view them as users scroll through their feeds 📱