Good morning.
We’ve scientifically concluded that Friday afternoons operate on a different temporal plane, where one hour feels like four and productivity is a myth.
Our main accomplishment today will be successfully closing all our browser tabs. Painful.
Before you launch into your own weekend timeline—whether it’s packed with plans or gloriously empty—we do have a few things you should know before you sign off for the week…
YouTube hides recommendations, Meta expands teen account protections, and the EU considers a full-scale ban
“Now you see me, now you don’t.”—your end screens, maybe.
Sigh: YouTube is adding a Hide button for end screen pop-ups after finding it caused a less than 1.5% drop in clicks during testing.
Although the dip in CTRs is minor, it could have an impact on your engagement, especially if you’ve built a big audience there. Just something to be aware of.
You can still add end screens and watermarks, however, and you should.
Numbers dropping everywhere: Speaking of engagement, several creators have been watching their YouTube view counts plummet.
The culprit? YouTube’s adblocker filter update.
It seems the filter disrupted analytics tracking without stopping video playback, proving that your core metrics can be surprisingly fragile. Hopefully, you haven’t been hit too hard.
And now, more blocks: Meta is bringing its new teen protections to Facebook and Messenger globally and building taller garden walls around its younger users.
Given the stronger privacy defaults, you may want to focus on brand-safe strategies over direct engagement for younger demographics. Your reach could struggle here, too. Just saying.
Protections? How about a ban: Meanwhile, the EU is considering implementing a “digital majority age” for social media platforms.
This suggests a major regulatory shift could be on the horizon, which could impact targeting, compliance rules, and age limits in other regions too.
Whew, any more of these and we’ll end up in the Restricted section at Hogwarts…
Meta rolls out a new selling points feature, and Google targets dishonest pricing
What do Meta Ads and magic tricks have in common? You just have to trust they work.
Seeing isn’t always believing: Meta’s new Swap selling points tool uses AI to replace text on your ad’s image with different selling points pulled from your ad copy. Sounds awesome, right?
Maybe. Only thing is, there are no previews or examples, so using this feature requires total blind faith. Hmm…
Don’t worry, Meta won’t just make things up. All text will come from your options. But Meta will probably get a bit, ah, creative with them.
If better customization rolls out, this could be a great testing tool. For now, treat it like an experiment.
Meanwhile, Google is demanding transparency: The company is updating its Misrepresentation policy with stricter rules against dishonest pricing.
This isn’t just about the fine print. Beginning October 2025, Google will target bait-and-switch tactics, price exploitation, and unclear free trials.
Luckily, you have time to prepare. Violations will receive a 7-day warning before any account suspension, giving you a chance to fix issues.
One platform is asking for trust while the other wants proof—adjust your strategies accordingly.
The marketing conversations you’d pay to eavesdrop on
So, you read Stacked Marketer. Smart move. You’re clearly not an amateur.
But your inbox could be an even better source of insider knowledge and proven strategies from industry leaders.
Once a week, Masters in Marketing delivers to your inbox behind-the-scenes breakdown of strategies from viral campaigns and billion-dollar brands.
That’s why over 150,000 marketers already read Masters in Marketing to level up their careers weekly.
And in each issue, you get:
- Ready-to-customize tools and templates that make you look brilliant while cutting your prep time in half.
- Conversations you’d pay to eavesdrop on: They chat with the creative minds behind campaigns you’ve screenshotted, from NBA’s viral TikToks to Oatly’s packaging that made you actually laugh in the grocery aisle.
- Battle-tested approaches from people who’ve already done the expensive experimenting for you.
How to squeeze results out of dwindling traffic
The deal used to be simple: Make good content, get good traffic.
But like Gustav M points out, AI is breaking that pact. Zero-click searches are up, and informational clicks are down. It’s not all doom and gloom, though…
Yes, robots are taking our cheap clicks. AI tools are answering simple queries directly, meaning fewer top-of-funnel, low-intent visitors ever reach our sites.
But the good news is, traffic that actually drives revenue is still for the taking.
This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) becomes an essential, ongoing discipline.
Optimize your conversions: If you double your conversion rate, you can hit the same revenue targets with half the traffic.
We’re not just talking about changing button colors. This is about systematically removing friction from the user journey.
Relying solely on search becomes a liability when an algorithm can intercept your audience.
Build owned channels, particularly an email list. This gives you a direct and reliable line to your audience that AI can’t sever. You control the message and the delivery.
An email list is an asset that AI can’t summarize away. Instead of one-off blasts, design email experiences that make subscribers look forward to your next send.
Also, while organic clicks for informational queries are declining, commercial intent in paid search remains strong.
Strategically “buy back” the high-value visitors you’ve lost by focusing on bottom-of-funnel keywords.
Don’t waste your budget trying to replace the low-intent traffic you lost. Get hyper-focused by targeting keywords that signal a clear intent to buy.
AI is great at synthesizing generic, derivative content. What it can’t do is create new information. So, your most defensible content is your own original insights.
Conduct your own surveys, run experiments, or publish unique frameworks that others in your industry will have to cite. Create content that establishes you as the primary source.
Instead of chasing sheer volume, think efficiency, ownership, and originality.
For all of Gustav’s insights—of which there are many—check out his full article here.
The repeatable formula for high-converting UGC ads
Why do some UGC ads convert like crazy while others burn cash?
It’s not guesswork; it’s a framework.
We got Iveta Makedonska, a creative lead who helps 8-figure brands scale, to reveal her 5-part system for creating winning video ads.
Her UGC Ads Essentials course gives you a repeatable formula you can rely on every time. No more guesses, blocks, or creative fatigue.
Want to stop relying on creative inspiration or swiping and start building ads that drive high ROAS consistently?
Zoomers are high on streaming services. Here’s how to take advantage
Earlier this week, we shared a Nielsen report that streaming consumption declined for the first time in six months.
But if anyone stopped streaming, it almost certainly wasn’t Zoomers.
That is according to this stat we found:
It seems Zoomers are big on streaming video services (82%) and streaming music services (67.6%).
What you can do: Given that CTV ads are becoming more accessible to the everyday marketer, you might want to test this if you’re trying to reach Gen Z.
Also, podcast ads might not be such a bad idea, because Zoomers actually pay for platforms like Spotify.
So while you might not have ads between songs, you can throw promos into the show itself.
Another thing to consider is video game ads, if you’re on the higher end of the marketing budget.
We don’t have space for every tip and report here. But you can check out the entire Data Story on our website!
BUYER PSYCHOLOGY: Marketers with psychology savvy have an unfair selling advantage. The good news is, you don’t need to study dense textbooks to learn it, either. Psychology of Marketing shares one powerful principle each week with marketing examples—and it only takes five minutes to read. Get it for free.*
AI MARKETING: If you’re waiting for ChatGPT to show up in your referral traffic… stop holding your breath. A new study suggests consumer discovery and decision-making are already happening inside the chat, long before they ever reach your sites or socials. Time for plan B?
SOCIAL MEDIA: Your audience might be getting their news… somewhere else. While Facebook and YouTube still lead as news sources for US adults, 20% also get news from TikTok—a 17% increase in four years. Probably worth noting if you’re doing PR or looking to harness trends.
YOUTUBE: Thanks to a new multi-year deal with Delta, curated long-form YouTube videos and free YouTube Premium trials are coming to seatback screens. This may give you a new, highly-engaged audience to consider for in-flight viewing… but probably not any ad exposure. Yet.
ADVERTISING: Is OpenAI building its own advertising engine? A job post hints the company may be developing an in-house platform for ad integration, campaign management, and real-time attribution—possibly enabling campaigns to run directly through ChatGPT and bypassing agencies altogether. Fascinating.
BUSINESS: Google just launched a Small Business Hub that gives you a central location for training, resources, and guides to Google’s entire product suite. Get a few rounds of training under your belt, and you could compete against much larger companies with the latest tech. David and Goliath style.
*This is a sponsored post.
Parents with two children—a son and a daughter—came to a wide river.
There was no bridge there. The only way to get to the other side was to ask a fisherman if he could lend them his boat.
However, the boat could carry only one adult or two children. How did the family get to the other side and return the boat to the fisherman?
You can find the answer here.
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