Twitter's Ad Revenue Takes a Tumble

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In Today's Email:

1. Twitter's Ad Revenue Takes a Tumble

2. OpenAI's Next Move: A Video Model that Will Leave You Speechless

3. Ad-ventures of Netflix: Early struggles for New Tier

4. TikTok Tackles Government Influence with New 'State-Controlled Media' Label

WHAT SMART PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT TODAY 👀

#1 - Twitter's Ad Revenue Takes a Tumble

Well folks, it looks like Twitter's ad revenue took a bit of a nosedive in Q4 of 2022. According to a report by The Information, the platform's revenue was 35% lower than it was the year before. Ouch! But what's the reason behind this? Well, it seems that the newly revamped Twitter Blue feature may have played a part.

Twitter brought in a cool $1.025 billion in revenue, which is only 72% of what they had hoped to make. And it wasn't just a little bit of a miss, it was a complete swing and a miss.

Before CEO Elon Musk came in, Twitter was hitting 98% of their targets, but now they're striking out like a Little Leaguer on their first day of the season.

It's not just the revenue that's feeling the pinch, it seems that Twitter's referral traffic to news websites has also taken a hit. According to Similarweb, traffic from Twitter to news sites declined by 12% in December compared to November 2022. Some sites took an even bigger hit, with referral traffic from Twitter falling between 10-18%.

So what's the problem? Many publishers point to the removal of Twitter Moments in December as the root cause. As a result, they're looking to other platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook to drive traffic, and focusing more on newsletters to reach their audience.

Looks like Twitter's going to have to step up their game if they want to keep up with the big dogs.

#2 - OpenAI's Next Move: A Video Model that Will Leave You Speechless

OpenAI, the masterminds behind the chatbot sensation ChatGPT, are shaking things up yet again. Their fearless leader, Sam Altman, sat down for an interview and let slip some juicy details about our upcoming projects.

Picture this: a video model so advanced, you'll swear it's alive. But when will it be ready? Your guess is as good as ours. We're just as excited as you are! As for their partnership with Microsoft, let's just say they're playing the field and keeping their options open as Sam made it clear that the partnership wasn't exclusive.

As for GPT-4, the fourth iteration of their beloved language model, all we can say is stay tuned. Sam explained they want to make sure it's safe for public consumption before they unleash it on the world. And for all you AGI enthusiasts out there, we hate to disappoint but it sounds like we're not quite there yet.

#3 - Ad-ventures of Netflix: Early struggles for New Tier

Looks like Netflix's new ad-supported tier, Basic with Ads, is off to a rocky start. It seems like not enough folks have caught on yet, and the stock took a 9% hit because some ad campaigns weren't hitting their viewership targets.

But don't worry, the experts say it's still too early to call it quits on this new venture. They predict that once Netflix cracks down on password sharing, subscriptions will start to pick up.

And with plans to create more ads and team up with other companies to make sure they reach the right audience, the future looks promising for Basic with Ads. So, let's just say it's currently in its "pre-hit" phase.

#4 - TikTok Tackles Government Influence with New 'State-Controlled Media' Label

TikTok is adding a new feature that'll give you the skinny on videos that may not be as "independent" as they seem. They're calling it the "state-controlled media" label, and it'll let you know when a video is being published by a group that's subject to government influence. This label began as a test in a few countries last year, but now it's being rolled out to more than 40 global markets.

When you tap on the label, you'll get more information about the video and why it's being labeled. But let's be real, TikTok is a little late to the party here. Other apps like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter have been doing this for a while. TikTok will decide if a video should have the label by looking at how independent the group that made the video is. And if a group thinks it was wrongly labeled, they can appeal the decision.

The label will now be used in the following countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mongolia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan.

CHUCKLE OF THE DAY 😂

God bless Twitter's sales team when this is what's happening inside the company