Ahead of the Super Bowl, Twitter and TikTok are offering marketers incentives to spend ad dollars on their platforms, as they each seek to draw viewers as second screens during the Big Game.<\/p>\n
Twitter is offering marketers $250,000 in free ad space; TikTok is offering ad credit incentives between 3 to 5% for advertisers spending between $50,000 and $300,000 on Super Bowl campaigns, according to pitches shared with Digiday.<\/p>\n
While Twitter has traditionally been the platform that marketers turn to for real-time marketing during the Super Bowl, the shift in leadership and advertiser exodus last year<\/a> left its place in this year\u2019s Big Game a question. With that uncertainty lingering, it\u2019s no surprise that TikTok is pitching incentives as well as reminding marketers of its \u201creal time\u201d capabilities, according to an ad exec who received TikTok\u2019s pitch and requested anonymity.<\/p>\n Marketers and agency execs say that they expect organic efforts to continue on Twitter this year. \u201cTwitter is meant to be a news channel, it\u2019s meant to be as real time as possible,\u201d said Shelby Jacobs, senior social strategist at Dentsu. \u201cMeanwhile, a platform like TikTok or Instagram is driven by an algorithm in which content and engagement may not pick up until well after the game has ended. That\u2019s why everyone flocks to Twitter. It\u2019s just the most in-person, real time, accurate feed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the months since Twitter\u2019s change in leadership, Elon Musk\u2019s leadership has put marketers on edge<\/a> and dollars have moved elsewhere<\/a> and Twitter alternatives have cropped up<\/a> but advertisers haven\u2019t been sold on them. Even so, platforms have made the pitch<\/a> to advertisers to scoop up those dollars. <\/p>\n Whether the incentives will sway marketers to return to spending ad dollars on the platform is up in the air. Though, sources said it\u2019s unlikely as many advertisers are in wait-and-see mode to watch if Twitter makes changes that could sway them, like new leadership. Others say that the Super Bowl incentives could temporarily attract advertisers, but not retain them.<\/p>\n \u201cIncentives may help bring advertisers back in the short term,\u201d said Brendan Gahan, chief social officer and partner at Mekanism, adding that Twitter\u2019s ad capabilities when it comes to performance need to be expanded to win back advertisers. \u201cBut, building a better ad product is needed to bring advertisers back long term.\u201d<\/p>\n As TikTok seeks to sway some marketers with its own Super Bowl incentives and highlighting real time capabilities, agency execs say that while the platform is \u201cway more relevant,\u201d as one ad exec noted, it\u2019s not yet where people turn to for real time events.<\/p>\n \u201cTwitter has owned the second screen experience during major live events, especially the Super Bowl. That won\u2019t change, at least not this year,\u201d said Noel Cottrell, partner, creative chair at Giant Spoon. \u201cTikTok, is however, starting to work into that space. And in two to three years time, it may be the Super Bowl\u2019s next town square.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That said, Cottrell added, \u201cThere\u2019s no way TikTok is bigger than Twitter this year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Purdue University skipped out on airing a linear television spot during the Big Ten Football Championship Game in favor of a digital strategy. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n We decided to not place expensive linear television advertising and instead took the route of specifically targeting groups that we want to make change and reinforce attitudes, beliefs, behaviors with using YouTube, using technology in an innovative fashion.<\/p>\n How did it pay off?<\/strong><\/p>\n What we saw was essentially a [significant] cost efficiency number in that Big Ten championship in our tentpole, or YouTube campaign versus what we would have seen had we gone the linear television route. <\/p>\n How does this change the university\u2019s broadcast spend going forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n It means as the marketing and, in particular, the digital marketing and storytelling, maturity and sophistication, continue to improve across higher education the way we\u2019ve seen in so many other industries, you\u2019re seeing higher education skate to where the puck has gone versus holding on to what we\u2019re used to. And as a result, it\u2019s effective, efficient, and it\u2019s wonderfully measurable. In an environment where spend or cost is scrutinized\u2026 we want to do right by our dollars and our audiences.\u00a0\u2014 Kimeko McCoy<\/em><\/p>\n With a record $7 million price tag, brands with ads in this year\u2019s Super Bowl are placing big bets to get in front of millions of viewers. With the Big Game just days away,\u00a0new research from marketing communications provider Mitto<\/a>, looks at just how effective those $7 million spots are for advertisers. Details from the findings below:<\/p>\n \u201cEven within flat to down budgets, we\u2019ve still seen clients have an optimistic outlook and openness to experimenting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 said Claire Russell, head of media at Fitzco, on experimental budgets being retained despite the current economic headwinds<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n3 Questions with Ethan Braden, evp, chief marketing and communications officer Purdue University <\/h2>\n
By the numbers<\/h2>\n
\n
Quote of the week<\/h2>\n
What we\u2019ve covered<\/h2>\n