TLDR Marketing 2025-05-23

TikTok is still dominated by short-form content. Over 55% of ranking videos are under 30 seconds, while longer videos have difficulty gaining traction. YouTube supports both short and long-form videos, maintaining 15+ minute videos at 20% of rankings, but mid-length videos are declining. Engagement on TikTok remains consistently high across all video lengths due to its personalized algorithm, whereas YouTube engagement varies greatly depending on content type and duration. Creators should tailor content to each platform's strengths, using TikTok for short, engaging videos and YouTube for a wider range of formats.

Content demand hit a record 7.9 million registrations in 2024, but the average time to open content stretched to nearly 39 hours, a 23% increase year over year. Playbooks showed strong buying intent, being 115% more likely to lead to a purchase within 12 months, while eBooks were less predictive of near-term decisions. Short-term purchase intent dropped 12%, while mid-term intent rose 15%, emphasizing the need for well-timed follow-ups over immediate responses. C-suite engagement rose 27%, but marketers must respect varied buyer timelines, focusing on presence, relevance, and patience.

One Instagram share can lead to anywhere from 150 to 400 additional views, significantly outperforming likes, comments, and saves. This makes share-worthy content the most effective way to reach new audiences and drive organic growth. Marketers should focus on formats like motivational stories, highly specific relatable posts, timely cultural tie-ins, and opinion-driven takes that promote conversation and sharing.

A study of 50 websites by Siege Media found that AI Overviews and LLMs lower overall site traffic but increase homepage visits by 10.7% on average. Some saw nearly 30% more clicks. This rise comes from stronger brand visibility in bottom-funnel AI search results that boost branded searches even without direct links. Established brands benefit most, while others struggle. Siege recommends optimizing homepages, enhancing retargeting strategies, investing in brand building, and focusing on brand awareness to leverage this shift effectively.

Peec is an AI search analytics tool that helps brands monitor and optimize their visibility across AI-driven search platforms. Teams can track brand mentions, analyze performance trends, benchmark against competitors, and identify the sources AI models rely on when generating responses.

Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4. Opus 4 leads in long-running coding tasks and agent workflows, while Sonnet 4 offers improved performance and instruction-following for everyday use. Both models now support extended thinking, memory from local files, and tool use in parallel.

More than three-quarters of small and midsize businesses report that social media improves their business performance. However, 54% struggle to keep content fresh and aligned with current trends while also running the business. Facebook leads as the most used platform, with 82% of businesses leveraging it to promote products and engage with customers, followed by Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Splashin turned the classic high school game "Senior Assassin" into a viral hit by making video proof of eliminations a required part of gameplay. It turned every moment into shareable content. Since launching in July 2023, the app has hit $1M MRR, 600K downloads, and over 2B views across TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels. Splashin's growth tactics include embedding viral content into the product itself, posting consistently through @splashin.app starting in April 2024, repurposing the same videos across multiple platforms, and focusing on “unexpected” eliminations to drive engagement. This user-driven content loop powers a content machine that removes the need for a traditional posting strategy.

Streaming now accounts for 44% of total TV time in the US, with the majority of that viewing supported by ads.

Understand the differences between positioning, messaging, and copy.

Only 8% of people working in UK advertising agencies are over 51, yet 33% of the overall working population is over 50.