CANNES DAY 2: Instagram vs. YouTube: The Battle for the Living Room

What's up everyone welcome back to the Collin and Samir show it is Tuesday June 23rd and we are sitting here in Can we are literally outside it is hot? I'm sure you can hear the trucks going by we are in the wild so we're hosting our show the daily brief every day here at Can lions in partnership with LinkedIn and Today we're gonna be talking about some news that broke yesterday Instagram watching horizontal video on TVs. We're gonna talk about if that matters. Do you care? Doesn't matter and in the rest of the episode we talk about the future of work What does it mean for young people entering the workforce? What are your opportunities? You want to listen to that part of the episode head over to LinkedIn the full episode is there Let's get into Instagram launching horizontal video on TVs The word of can this year. Yeah, technically it's two words. Agentech layer Everything can have an agentic layer. Yeah, I feel like Agentic is the word I didn't hear a layer. No, I heard layers Samir. What is that like layer? I said yesterday like the underbelly on top of anything you can layer on oh layer on I meant like somebody goes to their agent. Yeah, which does speak to the future of work Yeah, no matter what you are doing. What is that you can use an agent an AI agent got to help you with some of your work? Yes, but I think what was interesting is is yesterday on the show both Anthpo and Kendall Tucker from ramp like when we talk about the future of marketing It's actually extremely dependent on an individual creative Anthpo is an individual creative who has incredible ideas like very Internet native Chronically online knows how to tap into communities Kendall talked about how ramp strategy of doing these like massive stunts is just about finding an Individual who has an idea and giving them creative cannot be done by committee. Yeah I love that and I think that fits with what we were talking about yesterday as well the Reactionary advertising is so important your ability to be quick to be nimble and It's really hard to be quick and nimble when you have a committee of people trying to make a decision. Yeah So let's talk about the news for yesterday. This is not news necessarily from can But it was news that came out yesterday and it's just an expansion of something that was already announced which is Instagram on TV Yeah, the difference is Instagram is rolling out to more TVs including Samsung TVs but one of the biggest things that they announced yesterday was a horizontal video hub and I find that to be really interesting There was also a Post that was done by Rachel Carton who wrote to great news letter called Lincoln bio where she showed that there's a J crew ad That was posted both vertically and horizontally on Instagram and the horizontal one did better But now when we look at like Instagram on TV with a horizontal video hub What do you think they're trying to do and do you think it's gonna work? Well number one, I think YouTube has already proved that audiences want to watch and will watch UGC or creator content on their sofas they'll watch long form on their sofas on their TVs Right, so they've already proven that behavior that we want to do that and then from an advertising perspective There's a lot of opportunity to deliver ads To an audience like that where there are multiple people in a room. They're sitting there for long periods of time You can do pre rolls mid rolls. There's a lot of dollar opportunity there as well So I think it's pretty clear like why they're trying to do it audiences are there dollars are there I would just say this I mean of course like we've been YouTube guys through and through for really long time But I think Instagram has a cultural appeal that is very different than every other app I really do think that the vibe of being an Instagram creator or being popular on Instagram is Incredibly different than being popular on any other app like it has a higher cache Do you think that or no? Well, I think you're saying that I actually agree I think that's because the bearer to entry for Instagram Has been so low for so long Where you could be a celebrity and you can take part in Instagram culture still to this day By just posting a photo or a carousel sure like that is still a way to Contribute to the conversation in a real way whereas you know YouTube the requirement is a little bit heavier Right people don't think of YouTube and think oh, I can just post my photos there Yeah, and make an impact so because of that you have celebrities Who've been on Instagram for a long period of time? So let's talk specifically about horizontal video on Instagram like we always talk about subway takes as an example Because it's probably the show everybody knows that's watching like we can reference subway takes subway takes posts They're the the vertical asset every day. Yeah, and then the horizontal uncut version goes on YouTube. Yep Does really well on YouTube? What is the future of does that even like matter anymore? I mean, I mean does it matter for Subway takes supposed to horizontally on Instagram and well, I think the the future For Instagram is probably incentivizing creators to upload both assets at the same time So you're a creator or your media publisher and you make a short form version of your show You make a long form version maybe it's the extended version the same way that they incentivize if you use their edits app They will distribute your content moisture The one incentive structure that is missing from Instagram is making money You're right like the making money is missing from the platform. Yeah Which YouTube owns and is so good at and has been for so many years But when we sat down with the head of Instagram Adam Messerri and asked him about this We were like don't creators need and want monetization from the platform from you and he was like Maybe not really like they're incentivized by distribution They're incentivized by doing their own brand partnerships and I think that could be something Where you know when when Instagram? Continues to show up on our TVs. I think they've built trust with a lot of audiences that we will probably click that icon and watch Instagram on TVs You think they have that trust in the living room too. I think they just have that trust culturally. Yeah And the living room is part of culture sure So yeah, they have to earn that trust on the TV, but they've already built to a pretty big degree I would imagine that their POV might stay the same where it's like we don't need to pay you For your content is on the TV you're gonna get paid in distribution and your opportunity to monetize with brand partnerships I think major creators and major media publishers may have an issue with that because all of a sudden they're looking at The same exact piece of content that is monetized on YouTube Yeah, to a pretty big degree that they're not getting from Instagram. Let me read the text. I got yesterday So the link is to the Hollywood Reporter article that says it's not TV. It's Instagram and About their long form episodic horizontal video hub on TVs Says is this a new buyer for creators or a YouTube competitor or both does this matter? What do you think? I think the one advantage that YouTube or many advantages actually but the one that comes to mind is just The library of content on YouTube is so vast and for so many years it has been Packaged and built in a way that we can find it Right like I don't think Instagram Has that library right now because they have not been a place for long-form content so when I show up to YouTube There's an abundance of things that I can watch and I don't actually care necessarily if it's from today or if it's from three years ago and Later on top of that their ability to Distribute a 15 or 30 second ad. Yeah on a television screen It's hard to commute with YouTube because they're so advanced and the revshare is this Well, but I do think culturally together but called matter over time because so many Creators who are just getting into it or even celebrities because the barrier entries so low already have a presence on Instagram But does Instagram come to us and want to buy our shows no, you don't think that sound like It doesn't sound like it or matter. I'm walking up and down here in can I am wondering at what point do we get to like the reality of if you just look at the mechanics of can It is who's at my party Right like if I'm Spotify I want the right people at my party if I'm linked in I want the right people at my party if I'm YouTube I want the right people at my party and I just wonder as YouTube premium as a business continues to grow Instagram's launching on TV Netflix obviously stepped in and said we want certain people at our party and not at other parties. Yeah Are we are we entering the era of? Now you're just thinking of all the parties that haven't been invited to Can I give you a can gripe before we get to some of the questions that I got as well? I have a can gripe which is this that was mine. This is is a big can gripe. I was in the shower this morning It's dripping. I thought you'd go off So a little inside baseball for people who aren't I can you get these wristbands to get into different beaches and parties and I feel like a Little kid at a resort with water slides You know, no, yeah, totally where you get like a wristband and I'm like I'm a grown adult here. Joe Smirking. He knows what I'm talking about Yeah, I'm talking about right. Yeah, it's weighing you down. Yeah, it's weighing you down All right, let's read some comments from yesterday's episode. Okay, so some of you who are watching gave us some questions and comments Number one, this is about brands and and in reaction to Kendall talking about ramp from Instagram from com ill. I don't know how to say last thing brands will prioritize dedicated videos as time spent with brand becomes a bigger KPI So dedicated videos meaning if a brand comes to us as creators, they say we don't necessarily want you to just integrate our product into a 60 to 90 second ad read, we want the entire video to be about our brand. So as an example, I think creators that did this really well, yes theory, when Amar ran a marathon, he trained using the Runa app and the Runa app sponsored the video and throughout the entirety of the video, Runa was a main character in this video and I agree with you. I think audiences have become so accustomed to the 60 to 90 second ad read as a portion that is not integral to the story. It's very hard to make it so integral to the story that you need to pay attention. I think it's way more common and acceptable in the podcast format because it's like the radio you're used to that. But when it comes to video, I agree I do think it's become really important. Yeah, I think what we'll likely see more of is maybe it'll be the dedicated videos, but I think it'll be more the ambassadorships. I think the always on is actually the only way to capture my attention. Meaning again, Kendall yesterday ramped TPPN like ramps logos on the screen the entire time. I think the other one that's all I always bring up is dude perfect and body armor. They are the official drink of dude perfect. They're around all the time. Yeah, I think it's just a new way of sponsoring where I agree this premise of time spent with brand is a bigger metric of success for a brand. And I also think for audiences like, you're going to shut off right now if I look at you and said this episode is sponsored by you're also a shot off. We're sitting here for 40 minutes and 30 seconds is dedicated to one brand. The likelihood that you're going to forget that 30 seconds is probably pretty high, but even if you look at like product placement, if we were sitting here and at the entirety of our conversation, we have a mug that says LinkedIn on it. In a glance, you're going to go, oh LinkedIn. Yeah, they're a part of this world. They're a part of this world. Yeah, I mean actually literally we are in their world for sure. Yeah. Okay, so we're soon going to be joined by two guests and we're going to talk a lot about the premise of the future of work. I think something really interesting right now with work is like we are seeing this movement as college graduations happen coming into June where there are speakers talking about AI and a lot of young people, especially in those settings, were booing every time the term AI came up. AI is a very touchy subject for young people and I think the context is the future of work. I think so. There's a lot of ways. Or it's like people get into. Yeah, it was something that you and I talked about. We didn't expect to see. Yeah. It kind of caught us a little bit by surprise. I think we understand the sentiment. We've made many videos about AI and the tools that we use and you see the sentiment in the comments at times. Yeah. But that reaction from that generation was a bit surprising. Sure. I think for us, because maybe we'd already built our careers to a point where all of these AI tools now just enhance what we're doing. We're not building from scratch. We have a pre-existing brand where these tools, when they're announced. If we're able to integrate them and use them, well, I don't see them that different. So when I first got the Adobe Creative Suite, 16 years ago, well, I think there's actually a really big difference. When we were younger, our relationship with disruptive tech was like, it was rock star cool, right? Like the Silicon Valley kids in their garages, launching Instagram and YouTube. But like, it was cool whenever something new came out and it was important to be an early adopter of it. It also became our generation's version of work, right? Like when all these major tech companies actually started hiring and having huge offices with their culture was the rock star party. It was having a slide in your office, right? Like it was. Yeah, totally. So we have a positive relationship with it. And I think the most interesting stat I heard yesterday was from Brian Albert at YouTube. We were sitting with him and he said, 63% of the U.S. population is 45 and under and grew up or experienced life with a smartphone in their hands. And that population is only getting bigger, right? And so again, we experienced when that happened and it was important to adopt quickly versus the there's a there's also a large percentage of people who just were born into it. That's the status quo they didn't experience disruptive tech. We'd love to know your guys takes. We can leave them here on LinkedIn and we will respond to them tomorrow. Again, we're here every day for the next two days. The daily brief will be back here tomorrow morning from the Creset at Can Lions. Again, leave your comments. We'll see you tomorrow.