YouTube is the No. 1 brand amongst kids 6–12 years-old in the U.S., according to Smarty Pants’ list of Kids’ Most Loved Brands. Other brands on the list include Disney (No. 6), while Toys ‘R’ Us (No. 7), Disney Channel (No. 9), Netflix (No. 11), Crayola (No. 18), Lego (No. 21), and Nickelodeon (No. 23).
Snapchat files for an IPO, seeking a valuation of $25 billion. USA Today notes that the figure will be the biggest IPO for a U.S. tech company since Facebook’s $81.2 billion IPO in 2012. The messaging app recorded $404.5 million in revenue for 2016, up from $58.7 million in 2015. The news comes as TechCrunch reports that Snapchat Stories view counts have dropped between 15–40% as competing service Instagram Stories snatches viewers away.
Facebook launches a marketing mix modeling (MMM) portal intended for cross-channel ad planning. “Advertisers will now be able to compare which ads — TV, digital, and print — are driving their desired outcomes,” according to the social media network. The company is expanding its current partnerships with Nielsen and comScore, and adds a new viewability verification partner, DoubleVerify.
Kids’ online content creator USP Studios teams up with Jazwares to develop new animated content based on brands in the company’s incubation program to air on YouTube. Newly created studio JazWings will begin releasing content this spring.
Super Bowl
In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, over 40,000 related social media posts were posted, according to international social media analytics firm Talkwalker. The top trending brand was Snickers (5,046 times), followed by Skittles (4,444) and Mr. Clean (4,278). The hype is centered around the brand’s ads for the big game—Snickers is debuting what it is calling the first live Super Bowl commercial ever, with the teaser attracting over 1.4 million views on YouTube.
In contrast, Heinz is making news for not advertising this year; instead, the company is investing the $5 million that it would have spent in giving its employees the day off the Monday after the Super Bowl. Heinz launched a campaign using the hashtag #smunday to make Super Bowl Monday a national holiday; over 2,800 social posts have caught on with the trend.