Welcome to Katalys Connect – your weekly shortcut to the latest in performance marketing.
[Read time: 4 minutes]
What’s in this issue? Each week we pack the latest trends, actionable insights, and industry breakthroughs into a quick read – ensuring you’re not just keeping up, you’re staying ahead.
- Katalys Insights: Learn how Katalys supports advertisers and agencies with custom, full-funnel media plans through Katalys Marketplace.
- Monetization: Discover more about Perplexity’s transparency issues, The Verge’s bet on a new subscription model, and BlueSky’s monetization challenges.
- Growth: Explore how global ad revenue surpassing $1 trillion and Meta’s privacy-focused policies will reshape advertising strategies.
- The Future of Commerce: Dive into retail media’s potential to disrupt shopper trust, TikTok’s warning of a billion-dollar fallout, and Reddit’s new AI tool.
💡 Katalys Insights
Media Planning Made Easy • Stressed about Q1? Simplify your campaign planning with Katalys Marketplace, the one-stop platform connecting brands to hundreds of premium publisher opportunities.
- The Katalys team specializes in creating custom, full-funnel media plans that drive results. Whether it’s custom content, newsletter sponsorships, or video features, we curate impactful placements tailored to your goals and target audience.
- Just submit your campaign objectives, budget, and audience details—we’ll take care of the rest, so you can focus on growing your brand.
Brands – Request Your Custom Media Plan
Publishers – Want to see your opportunities listed on the Katalys Marketplace? Contact us to get started!
💸 Monetization
Bluesky’s Revenue Equation • As Bluesky’s user base skyrockets to 24 million, CEO Jay Graber explores ad-based monetization that won’t compromise the platform’s decentralized, user-first philosophy.
- Unlike X and Facebook, which rely on algorithms to place ads and content, Bluesky’s ad strategy would allow users to opt in or out, maintaining that any advertising enhances the experience rather than disrupting it. This approach could set a new standard for ethical advertising in social media
- Founded by Jack Dorsey to counteract centralized models, Bluesky must attract users disillusioned with competitors while proving its unconventional monetization approach can be profitable.
Perplexity’s Ad Push • Perplexity’s expanded ad-sharing program includes major outlets like LA Times and Adweek, promising revenue boosts while stirring controversy over transparency and content misuse.
- Perplexity’s ad-sharing offers publishers new revenue streams, but its lack of transparency and ongoing legal battles with giants like Dow Jones and The New York Times raises red flags. Critics claim Perplexity’s AI unfairly competes by paraphrasing content, even behind paywalls – fueling concerns over brand safety and ethical content use.
- With a $500M funding round in the works, Perplexity’s success hinges on balancing innovation with publisher trust as it faces growing competition from platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search.
The Verge Bets on Subscriptions • The Verge introduces a metered paywall and $7/month subscription, combining ad-light browsing, exclusive content, and collectible print editions to deepen reader loyalty and drive sustainable growth.
- In an era where social platforms deprioritize links, search updates throttle traffic, and AI disrupts reporting, The Verge’s direct-to-reader model offers a roadmap for sustainable, high-quality journalism.
- By keeping core content free while offering paid perks like exclusive newsletters, ad-light browsing, and print bonuses, The Verge balances accessibility with premium engagement, maximizing reader conversion potential.
📈 Growth
$1 Trillion Milestone • The global ad market is set to top $1 trillion in 2024, with tech giants like Google and Meta commanding over half—forcing advertisers to rethink their digital game.
- Digital advertising, including streaming, online news, and magazines, is projected to make up 82% of global ad revenue by 2025, reflecting a monumental shift away from traditional channels.
- As AI continues to advance, tech platforms are leveraging it for smarter targeting and consumer insights, reshaping the advertising landscape and challenging agencies to innovate or risk losing relevance in a digital-first economy.
Meta’s Policy Shift Hits Wellness • Meta’s new restrictions for health and wellness brands, rolling out in January 2025, limit the use of lower-funnel tracking data to prevent sharing sensitive consumer information, forcing some brands to overhaul their ad strategies.
- Flagged health and wellness brands face confusion as Meta provides little clarity on why they’ve been restricted or how to comply. With an unclear appeals process and critical January wellness campaigns at stake, some brands are left scrambling to adjust strategies and reallocate budgets without sufficient guidance.
- Meta’s move underscores a rapid evolution toward privacy-centric advertising, pushing brands to embrace new attribution models and rethink their approach to data-driven marketing.
Google Shopping Upgrades • Google’s new annotations and badges aim to enhance Shopping ad visibility, driving clicks and boosting consumer trust in competitive e-commerce markets.
- Badges like “Price Drop” and “Free and Fast Shipping” attract attention in crowded search results, while “Top Quality Store” and “Estimated Delivery Date” boost shopper confidence, increasing clicks and conversions.
- Google’s dynamic annotation system prioritizes relevance, meaning complete and accurate product data is your ticket to standing out and thriving in the evolving e-commerce landscape.
🚀 Future of Commerce
When Ads Disrupt Experience • As retail media transforms grocery and pharmacy shopping, data-driven ad strategies and private-label prioritization could risk alienating customers with frustrating in-store and online experiences.
- Locked shelves and digital overlays frustrate shoppers, prioritizing private-label profits and ad revenue while driving many customers to seamless online options like Amazon’s booming pharmacy business, which avoids such barriers altogether.
- Online grocery platforms increasingly prioritize ad revenue over accuracy, often displaying misleading search results where sponsored listings take precedence over relevance. This practice forces brands to bid defensively on their own key terms to maintain visibility, while shoppers may encounter confusion.
Warning of TikTok Ban’s Fallout • A potential TikTok shutdown could cost U.S. small businesses and creators an estimated $1.3 billion in just one month, sparking economic concerns as the app fights for survival.
- According to TikTok’s economic impact report, the platform drives $24.2 billion in U.S. GDP, with 7 million domestic businesses relying on it for sales 69% of which say it’s boosted revenue.
- As TikTok battles a law targeting ByteDance’s China ties, it warns the ban could stifle speech and disrupt the U.S. advertising ecosystem, raising stakes for all digital platforms.
Reddit’s AI Search • Reddit introduces Reddit Answers, a conversational AI tool that delivers curated summaries and answers from its communities, challenging ChatGPT, Perplexity, and even Google in the search space.
- Reddit Answers allows users to access concise, AI-powered summaries while linking back to original threads, encouraging deeper exploration and community interaction.
- By leveraging its massive trove of user-generated content, Reddit aims to retain users who might otherwise turn to AI tools like ChatGPT for quick answers.
