Given the assorted misleading data points that X’s group has communicated since Elon Musk took possession of the app, that are seemingly designed to present the impression that the platform is performing higher than it really is, it’s arduous to belief the numbers that they do share, as a result of we don’t have any means of verifying if what’s appropriate and what’s not.
However right this moment, we have now some new knowledge from X, as a part of a broader announcement of a new partnership with Integral Ad Science (IAS) on model security for vertical video advert placements.
As per X:
“A growing number of users are actively watching and posting videos on X, fueling the platform’s rapid expansion. X is now a video-first platform, with video being part of more than 8 in 10 user sessions, and we’ve seen views increase almost 30% year over year.”
See, even this assertion is unclear, as a result of it doesn’t present sufficient context as to what that truly means. Is that general video views or video views on common? Previously, you possibly can ask Twitter’s comms division for readability, however now, X doesn’t actually have a communications group, so there’s no means of understanding what these figures really signify.
However primarily based on these numbers, video content material is getting extra consideration within the app, whereas X additionally claims that greater than 100 million folks watch vertical video on the platform on daily basis.
“Vertical video is the fastest growing surface on X. Over 100M people around the world are consuming vertical video daily at an average of over 13 minutes per day. On many days, vertical video accounts for around 20% of all time spent on the platform.”
When seen in broader context, this is smart, because the behavioral shift in direction of vertical video, led by TikTok and Instagram, would lend itself to comparable developments in different apps. However X’s video participant doesn’t open to the vertical participant natively, with most customers viewing video in-stream. And given X sees 244 million daily actives in complete, that’s lots of people that it claims are particularly tapping into video clips to view them, then scrolling by way of its video-specific feed.
So is that true? I don’t know, and we have now no approach to make clear.
Regardless, X is now seeking to present extra assurance for manufacturers seeking to show their advertisements inside this vertical video feed.
“Effective February 1, 2024, X will expand access to our successful vetted inventory pilot with Integral Ad Science, a leading global media measurement and optimization platform, to all US advertisers. In this partnership, IAS classifies all Vertical Video Ad adjacencies for brand safety and suitability aligned to the GARM framework.”
X says that this may give vertical video advertisers “maximum control over where their ads appear”. Which is vital, given {that a} rising variety of manufacturers are pulling back on X ad spend, ostensibly attributable to model security issues.
Although these issues are arguably extra centered on Musk’s personal feedback than advert placement.
As well as, X says that it’s employed extra workers in its model security group to bolster this aspect.
Once more, it’s arduous to gauge what precisely is happening at X, due to the assorted contradicting and deceptive knowledge factors being shared and/or amplified by Yaccarino and Musk at completely different instances.
For instance, again in October, Yaccarino claimed that X customers have been spending an average of 32 minutes per day in the app, however primarily based on latest knowledge shared by Musk, it’s more like 23 minutes per day instead. Which can not appear to be a large discrepancy on the floor, however that’s a variance in engagement of round 30%.
Musk has additionally continued to amplify deceptive knowledge factors, like website traffic numbers, as a method to counsel that X is outperforming Instagram and Fb in site visitors. Which it’s not, however X does generate a big quantity extra visits by way of net browers, versus IG and FB, which see some 90% of their exercise in-app.
The framing of those stats looks like a deliberate try and mislead, and consequently, it makes it more durable to belief all of X’s reported figures.
In consequence, you just about must low cost the broader numbers, and focus as a substitute on the precise engagement that you simply’re seeing, or not, within the app.
Is your target market energetic on X? Are manufacturers and influencers in your area of interest posting vertical video within the app?
If they’re, then perhaps it’s best to experiment with the identical, and see whether or not it really works in your strategic targets.
