Netflix Introduces "Basic With Ads" Tier

Bonjourno 👋

This is Pipe Rise. We show you a handful of cool things happening in B2B Marketing, in less than a 5-minute read once a week.

In Today's Email:

1. Netflix Introduces "Basic With Ads" Tier 📺

2. New LinkedIn Inbox Changes 📨

3. Instagram Is Increasing the Amount of Ads You See 📲

4. Stumbled Upon Gems - Giving Away Legos & Old v New B2B Marketing 💎

5. Oatly's Fearless Advertising 🏆

WHAT SMART PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT TODAY 👀

#1 - Netflix Introduces "Basic With Ads" Tier

Could advertising on Netflix be a new goldmine channel for B2B in 2023?

Looks like we're going back in time as Netflix copies the old-school cable television model of serving ads to make money. It's ironic that what the streaming giant used as a key selling point in its rise to the mainstream ( no ads ) is now being flipped on a 360 with their new Basic With Ads tier.

Imagine being able to run B2B ads to everyone in the US that watches The Office. Or B2C ads to everyone in the UK that watches Emily in Paris. It's going to be a whole new world for advertisers, and the November launch of this tier is coming in at a good time as companies are starting to plan for 2023 targets and getting budgets approved.

And if you're a marketer that likes to be a first-mover and take the upside of trying things out before anyone else, then you might want to keep an eye on how Netflix Ads performance shakes out. It might be pricey at ~$50 CPM and the targeting might be broader than you'd like ( target by Genre & Country ), but if you've been a company that's seen success from running ads on YouTube then you're in a good position to take advantage and see success from running Netflix ads. There are more similarities than differences between both those mediums compared to paid social channels like LinkedIn & Facebook.

Now...it seems like only a handful of big brands were invited to participate in the launch, with the ability to purchase Netflix ad placements through specific programmatic adtech companies like Xandr. So if you're working with an adtech company like that then happy days. For the rest of us that don't, Netflix will offer insertion orders, a more traditional way of buying cable TV ads.

And with Netflix expecting the new ad-supported tier to generate 500,000 new subscribers before the end of the year, adding to its 220 million total subscribers, they've said to have been getting "overwhelming interest" from hundreds of global advertisers and practically sold out the launch ad inventory.

Personally, I'd rather have no ads and would happily pay the higher price to not have my show time after work interrupted as I'm trying to wind down. But hey...let's wait and see how this shakes out.

#2 - New LinkedIn Inbox Changes

You know how in the movies, the people manning the watchtowers sound the horn when they notice an enemy approaching or when it looks like something bad is about to happen?

Well, we're sounding the sh*t out of the horn right now. How come?

Conversation ads have been one the highlights from LinkedIn's product team in recent years and a bunch of SaaS companies are taking advantage of them to drive pipeline. ( me included )

They work because they land in the same place you get messages from colleagues and new connections. They're prioritized to get your attention.

But we're in for a world of hurt if a new LinkedIn test that was spotted in the wild is rolled out to the entire user base. What's happening?

They're testing splitting a user's inbox into two sections, Focused and Other.

And as you can imagine, the tier 1 focused inbox will be the place where messages from your network will land and the tier 2 other inbox will be for all sponsored messaging and conversation ads ( should we start nicknaming this other inbox the LinkedIn graveyard yet? )

Here's what it's looking like 👇

So what does this mean for advertisers like us? Well, our open and engagement rates for conversation ads are going to drop off a cliff and it's going to get more expensive to get conversions. No doubt in my mind.

In fact Trey Buchanan, VP of B2B Advertising at Right Percent is sounding the alarm based on what they're seeing. Across their 3 biggest clients who typically spend $300k to $600k, they're seeing a 10-20% drop in open rates. Not good.

So where do we go from here? Make hay while the sun shines and lean into the conversation ads "good times" while we still can. Because it's looking like one day soon, we're going to be recounting how good we had it when we were getting 50%+ open rates on everything we sent.

#3 - Instagram Is Increasing the Amount of Ads You See

Ah yes...Good old Marky Mark is looking to squeeze more from Instagram by, you guessed it - creating more ad placements across your Instagram feed. Optimizing for themselves instead of the end user.

Now as an advertiser, I'm not complaining (yet...) but I am conscious this is going to create some interesting ripple effects that we're going to have to stay on top of and navigate.

So what's happening exactly? Well, there are going to be two new ad slots. One on the explore home page and another directly in the profile feeds themselves.

What this means for us as advertisers is we should expect our CPMs to be lower on Instagram which is good, but engagement and overall CTR will most likely drop.

The key thing to take away is your average ad frequency will probably increase faster than normal which means you'll have to think about rotating your ad creatives more frequently so that you're not fatiguing the users you're getting in front of.

In a nutshell? More ad creatives. Faster ad rotation. That's the key to make the most of this update. ( and maybe give your Creative Director a raise so they don't shut down when you ask for 2x the creative volume next month )

STUMBLED UPON GEMS 💎

• If you personally want to grow as fast as your company, you have to give away your job every couple months. Give Away Your Legos is a must-read for anyone in a scaling startup.

• The old v new ways of B2B marketing summarized in 8 compact points by HubSpot's Kieran Flanagan. Read this and make sure you don't get left behind.

• 🤘 Every resource mentioned on Louis Grenier's Everyone Hates Marketers podcast - can be found here if you want to dive into the rabbit hole of books, tools, podcasts, and newsletters.

STUDYING THE GREATS 🏆

Today we're popping the hood on a fearless ad from one of the darlings of bougie Millenials all over the world. Oatly.

In the same style as Eminem in 8th-mile getting all the naked truths out in the open; Oatly honestly shares that oat milk is not for everyone. Some people will like it and some won't. And that's what makes this ad great. Because people don't trust advertising in general, especially if it leads with extreme words like "Best" or "#1".

The lesson? As David Ogilvy once said, “Tell the truth, but make the truth fascinating.”

That, combined with the attention-grabbing headline you wouldn't expect. Makes this ad a home run ⚾️

Here’s the copy in the ad typed out:

MEME OF THE DAY 😂

Ciao until next week 👋