This week’s FWD covers the latest from Nextflix, as they reveal new opportunities for advertisers, including single-title sponsorships and sponsorship of its first-ever live sports event. According to Peter Naylor, the company’s vice president of global advertising sales, the streaming platform also announced its plans to launch a binge ad format later this year.

News:

Instagram tests a verified-only feed: Instagram is testing a new toggle, which can be found under ‘Following’ and ‘Favorites’, which allows users to filter their feeds to only see posts from Meta Verified users. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said, “We’re exploring this as a new control for people and a way for businesses and creators to get discovered.”

Tinder’s app is letting friends play matchmaker: Tinder is introducing a new feature called Tinder Matchmaker, allowing users to invite their friends, including non-Tinder users, to view and suggest potential matches. The new feature aims to enable Tinder users to understand who their friends or family members think would be a good match for them, it’s inspired by Tinder user data.

TikTok is Experimenting With 15-Minute Uploads: TikTok is testing 15-minute video uploads to the platform in select regions with a limited group of users. The increased video duration from 10 to 15 minutes will give creators more time and flexibility when sharing things like cooking recipes, beauty tutorials, education content, and comedy sketches.

Brands lose by ignoring Gen X: Gen X is thought to be the wealthiest generation in history, whilst regularly engaging with social media. They are the fastest-growing user base on TikTok. Only 13% of this population feels seen in social advertising, according to a recent report from Wavemaker highlighting how the industry is leaving this increasingly valuable group behind.