The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Facebook Inc on Thursday said it will begin testing ads on its TikTok clone Instagram Reels in India, Brazil, Germany and Australia, as the social media giant aims to make money from its short-form video feature.
The company is seeking to capitalise on its popularity in India, a fast-growing social media market, while rival TikTok has been banned from the country since last year. Facebook has said it plans to test other features in India, such as letting content creators share Reels videos on their Facebook accounts.
The introduction of ads is an “indication of how strong the momentum is for Reels,” said Carolyn Everson, vice president of global business group at Facebook, in an interview. Everson declined to share usage metrics for Reels.
Facebook also announced Thursday it will let advertisers select categories of video content they want to place ads on, such as videos about children and parenting, animals and pets or fitness and workouts.
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The effort is Facebook’s biggest move yet to let brands advertise alongside content subjects. Advertisers typically use Facebook to target certain users by their interests.
“This is a big deal for marketers,” Everson said.
Facebook added it will roll out sticker ads for Facebook Stories in the coming weeks. Brands can create stickers that creators will place in their Stories, and influencers will earn a cut of any sales made through the sticker ads.
The feature is part of Facebook’s push to court content creators who are increasingly making money directly from fans and followers through platforms such as audio chat app Clubhouse and membership site Patreon.
By Sheila Dang; Editor: Sam Holmes
The app, owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, has been promising to help emerging US labels get started selling in China at the same time that TikTok stares down a ban by the US for its ties to China.
Zero10 offers digital solutions through AR mirrors, leveraged in-store and in window displays, to brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Coach. Co-founder and CEO George Yashin discusses the latest advancements in AR and how fashion companies can leverage the technology to boost consumer experiences via retail touchpoints and brand experiences.
Four years ago, when the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the US, its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. worked out a preliminary deal to sell the short video app’s business. Not this time.
Brands are using them for design tasks, in their marketing, on their e-commerce sites and in augmented-reality experiences such as virtual try-on, with more applications still emerging.