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- Newsletter #94: Why length matters
Newsletter #94: Why length matters
Reading Time: 3 min
Readability: Pre-K (Like my listing optimization strategy: crayons and guesswork)
The weekly newsletter that shares Amazon strategies…. more exciting than learning the surprise snack of the day in pre-school
In this edition:
💯 $700 PER YEAR... Americans actually trust TikTok
🤝 ORACLE SWOOPS IN.... TikTok's American makeover?
🚀 LENGTH MATTERS ON TIKTOK... Long Videos Win The View Race! 📈
🔥 SCROLLING TO THE BANK.... Influencers hit $10B jackpot
⬇️ Let’s get started.....
💯 $700 PER YEAR
Americans actually trust TikTok
💰 TikTok Shop: America's $700 Shopping Spree 💰
Gen Z leads the charge, but everyone's joining the party.
Show Me The Money 💸
Americans spend $59 PER PURCHASE on TikTok Shop. Personal accessories and household items dominate the feed.
1 in 4 admit to impulse buying (and regretting it), but they'll still drop $95 on anything their favorite influencer recommends. Make it make sense! 🤦♂️
Influencers Rule This Kingdom 🔥
Two-thirds of shoppers take purchasing advice from TikTok creators. Half of all TikTok Shop sales come directly from influencer posts.
Smart brands like E.l.f. are crushing it with "Super Brand Day" events. Black Friday sales hit $100M – triple last year's numbers.
The Ban That Wasn't 🚨
Despite the drama, 40% of shoppers notice the app changing but keep spending anyway. Poof that TikTok is the cockroach that can't be squashed 🪳👞.
🤝 ORACLE SWOOPS IN
TikTok's American makeover?
TikTok's ORACLE Lifeline? 🤔
The White House is eyeing a deal with Oracle to keep TikTok alive in America. JD Vance and Mike Waltz are leading negotiations that could save 170 million US users from digital exile.
But here's the kicker….. will this actually solve anything?
Congress is freaking out that ByteDance might still control the algorithm. It's like putting a new lock on your front door while leaving the back door wide open 🤬
Oracle's plan is essentially "Project Texas 2.0" - storing American data on US servers. But we've seen this movie before and Congress wasn't impressed the first time around.
Trump needs to close this deal by April 5th or TikTok goes dark again. Remember January's 12-hour blackout? That was just the trailer for what could happen next month.
The real power player? China. Beijing has made it crystal clear they're not fans of "forced sales" and any deal needs their blessing. They're holding all the cards and know it.
Here's what's really going down: Trump loves TikTok now (funny how meeting with a major Republican donor who owns ByteDance shares changes perspectives 👀). Congress is suspicious. Oracle is eager. And China is playing hardball.
Will this save your TikTok Shop empire?
🚀 LENGTH MATTERS ON TIKTOK
Long Videos Win The View Race! 📈
Longer TikToks Get More Views? Hell Yeah. 🔥
TikTok's shaking up the game…… and the data doesn't lie. While everyone's busy chopping videos to 15 seconds, the algorithm is secretly loving longer content.
Let me hit you with a truth bomb: TikTok vids longer than 60 seconds get 43.2% more reach and 63.8% more watch time than shorter ones. I'm not making this up…… the data analyzed 1.1 MILLION TikToks 🤯
The Secret Nobody's Talking About 🤫
Here's what's mind-blowing….. 86% of TikToks are under a minute, but they're NOT the ones getting the most views. Everyone's zigging while the algorithm's zagging.
It's like finding a cheat code nobody's using. The longer your video, the more the algorithm pushes it to new eyeballs.
The Numbers Are Insane 📊
Videos over 60 seconds get:
43.2% more reach than 30-60 second videos
70.3% more reach than 10-30 second videos
95.7% more reach than those tiny 5-10 second clips
Why? Two reasons: TikTok wants to keep users on the platform (duh), and there's way less competition in the longer-form space.
What This Means For You 👊
Before you go making 10-minute epics, remember the basics still matter…… a killer hook in the first 2 seconds is non-negotiable. Fast-paced edits, on-screen text, and consistent posting are your foundation.
But once you've got that down? Stop hacking away at your good content just to hit some mythical 30-second sweet spot. Let your videos breathe a little.
The Bottom Line 💰
Think of longer videos like an investment. They take more effort but potentially offer WAY bigger returns in algorithm favor and audience building.
You've been cutting your videos short…… and leaving views on the table. Time to flip the script.
🔥 SCROLLING TO THE BANK
Influencers hit $10B jackpot
TikTok's in trouble... but influencer marketing is BOOMING. U.S. brands will drop a mind-blowing $10 BILLION on influencers this year – hitting that milestone a full year earlier than predicted.
That's a 23.7% jump in spending, crushing earlier forecasts of just 16%. We're talking an extra $1.37 billion flowing to creators in 2025 alone.
But here's the kicker... TikTok's slice of this massive pie is actually SHRINKING. Their CPMs just tanked 80% year-over-year while Pinterest's surged 120%. Talk about a plot twist!
The TikTok ban drama is scaring brands away faster than a horror movie. No one wants to sink their budget into a platform that might vanish overnight... or get sold to one of Trump's four mystery buyers.
"Fewer marketers are thinking TikTok-first," says Jasmine Enberg from Emarketer. Creators aren't waiting around either – they're building audiences elsewhere, especially where they control their own destiny.
YouTube is quickly becoming the real MVP. Over half of U.S. marketers plan to run influencer campaigns there this year. It's all about predictable content and long-term relationships now... not chasing trends.
The future belongs to brands that can pivot. Influencer marketing is bigger than any single platform... and smart sellers know how to follow the audience wherever they go.
Your move, Amazon seller. Your move. 👊
That's it for this week 👊
But I need to ask a favour...
This newsletter was: |
Thanks for reading.
- Paul
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