Copy Paste

YouTube copies TikTok, TikTok copied BeReal, Alphabet loving ads

Author

Amol Avasare
September 16, 2022

Hello there! It’s copycat galore in the short-form video world. YouTube has taken inspiration from TikTok, allowing creators to respond to comments via video. Don’t spare too many thoughts for TikTok though - it’s fully on the “great artists steal” bandwagon, hitting copy paste on BeReal, an upstart French social media app.

Wait... They shipped what!?

Much to the irritation of countless Redditors, YouTube ran a ‘bumper ads’ experiment on steroids, testing over 5 unskippable ads in a row.

Backstory: Over the past few months, several users have noticed YouTube ads expanding in quantity and length.

Why it matters: Companies large and small are reorienting towards profitability. Even the cash-flush likes of Alphabet can’t escape the broader macroeconomic deterioration.

  • Alphabet announced reductions in it’s fabled office perks, and Sundar Pichai recently spoke about the need to make the company 20% more efficient.

  • Cutting expenses is one lever, while driving revenue is the other. Alphabet is in a unique position of having substantial untapped ad-inventory across it’s suite of free products.

Be smart: This one specific experiment was behind a feature flag, and has since been turned off. Nonetheless, Alphabet appears to be increasingly prioritizing revenue across it’s product surface areas, as seen in the case of introducing ads to Shorts.

What to watch: How far will Alphabet go in its quest to manage profitability? Some degree of job cuts seem probable, while Google growth PMs stand to benefit from increased leeway in their prioritization debates.

Features & products hot off the press

  • Walmart shipped a tool letting shoppers virtually see how clothes would fit them. (CNBC)

  • Netflix estimates it’s upcoming ad-supported tier will reach 40 million viewers by Q3 2023. (WSJ)

  • Google Photos redesigned it’s memories feature, including vertical swiping and other creative tools. (TechCrunch)

  • Amazon’s Alexa will soon respond to some questions with brand submitted ad-style responses. (TechCrunch)

  • Apple launches medication reminders in iOS 16 to helping you stay on top of taking your pills. (WSJ)

  • TikTok launches a BeReal competitor, TikTok Now, attempting to add a layer of authenticity to social media. (TechCrunch)

  • YouTube adds a TikTok feature, encouraging creators to make Shorts directly from comments. (TechCrunch)

  • YouTube is bringing ads to Shorts, paying creators 45% of ad revenue. (TechCrunch)

Getting 1% better at building product

  • Job seeking - How to interview a company as well as they interview you. (The Fishman AF Newsletter)

  • Acquisition - When and how to invest in new acquisition channels. (Lenny’s Newsletter)

  • Early stage - Four major problems with the lean startup methodology. (Reforge)

  • Cleanup - The art of unshipping: How to deprioritize features, phase out projects and sunset products. (Plan.io)

Other tech happenings

  • Parler restructures and pivots to providing ‘uncancelable’ cloud services. (The Verge)

  • Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, signed bipartisan legislation requiring social media companies to implement safeguards for users under 18. (Axios)

  • Meta continues it’s shift towards Reels, trimming the fat from other parts of it’s business by shrinking it’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team. (Platformer)

  • TikTok is the new search engine for Gen Z. (NYT)

  • MidJourney founder says the world needs ‘more imagination’. (VentureBeat)

  • Envoy acquires Worksphere in an attempt to become the all-in-one platform for hybrid work. (VentureBeat)

The mindless scrolling of Product Twitter

And that’s a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more!

- Amol