Sheila Dang
(Reuters) – Short-form videos have taken center stage in tech and social media companies’ annual presentations to advertisers as platforms like Snap and Meta seek to capitalize on TikTok’s U.S. political uncertainty to wrest advertising dollars from its rival.
The New York presentations, known as NewFronts, come just a week after US President Joe Biden signed a bill that gives Chinese tech company ByteDance up to one year to sell TikTok or face a ban on the app on national security grounds. TikTok has vowed to fight the legislation.
The short-form video platform announced new sports and entertainment partnerships on its NewFront Thursday night, including an agreement for broadcaster NBCUniversal to post clips from the Paris Summer Olympics on TikTok.
Research firm Emarketer estimates that TikTok will generate $8.66 billion in advertising revenue in the U.S. this year. Despite being a fraction of the size of Google (NASDAQ:) and Meta, TikTok started the short-form video craze and encouraged competitors to create similar functions.
“TikTok needs to show advertisers that it’s business as usual, even if it’s anything but,” said Emarketer chief analyst Jasmine Enberg.
On Wednesday, Snap, which owns photo-sharing app Snapchat, said it would also partner with NBCUniversal to bring popular influencers into games to film content. It will also feature clips of event promoter Live Nation’s best concerts.
“We’re having very productive conversations about how Snapchat can help because there’s a lot of noise right now,” said Patrick Harris, Snap’s president of Americas and partnerships. “But we have our heads down and are doing everything we can to become a reliable and viable platform.”
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The emphasis on professionally produced videos is intended to attract brands wary of the negative impacts of social media or artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content.
“Brands are having to spend a little more time thinking about environmental quality, which is why the content partnerships being created are so important,” said Robert Silver, head of media at digital marketing company Razorfish.
Facebook (NASDAQ:) and Instagram owner Meta are focusing their NewFront on Reels, its TikTok rival that now accounts for half the time users spend on Instagram.
“Instagram Reels could already benefit from TikTok’s ban, and Meta wants to ensure it can capture all the potential displaced users and revenue it can,” Emarketer’s Enberg said.
Google said Monday that its own short video feature, called YouTube Shorts, is increasingly being viewed not only on phones but also on TV screens.
Despite the uncertainty about TikTok’s future, advertisers say they intend to focus on the short term, with some planning to continue advertising until that is no longer possible.
“I think we need to close some eyes, focus and try to understand what innovative opportunities are available to advertisers,” said Alex Stone, senior vice president of agency partnerships at media buying company Horizon Media, referring to NewFront from TikTok.