028 | REDDIT ADDS ADS, PINTEREST PINS DOWN IPO, AND SPOTIFY CASTS A WIDER NET

Social Currency

In episode 028, we cover three topics: Reddit, Pinterest and Spotify.

Reddit is clearly making moves to “professionalize” their platform of 13 years with a fresh look at how they market themselves to advertisers. The community-based forum has received $300 million in funding of late and is touring the agency world touting their new ad targeting, reporting capabilities and adding new cost per click ad units. Reddit has also made some user experience changes to improve overall design of the platform and is tackling “brand safety” issues head on. We are intrigued. In fact, Reddit may be the next social platform to watch as their ability to reach topic-based audiences within subreddits is a trend across digital marketing. This audience is also not always found in the “traditional” social properties so perhaps less duplication. If you’re not dabbling in Reddit, if even simply for social listening reasons, now is the time to check them out.

Pinterest, long known as the place you go to find interior design ideas and birthday party themes, is also repositioning themselves as what they call a “discovery engine.” Not a social media platform, they say. Although, we’ve heard Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter) say Twitter isn’t a social media platform either- so this just might be a massive trend to not compete with the likes of Facebook and Instagram. Oy vey! Meanwhile, Pinterest plans to go public this year and wants to be known for inspirational images that drive sales. With around 250 monthly active users, could Pinterest possibly compete against Google or Amazon? We shall see...

Lastly, one of our favorite topics, podcasting. We share some arresting statistics about average listen time and the power of being “in someone’s head.” With Spotify acquiring Gimlet and Anchor, there is a clear move to expand beyond music and dominate the audio space. Podcast apps are still very fragmented on Android-based devices (unlike Apple podcasts for iOS). We predict Spotify will own this space in short order. All in all, podcasting is exploding and there is still much more to come.

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