by Here's a recap of the most important insights, trends, and updates you need to know about today! Catch up in minutes and go into the rest of the week prepared.
In today's edition:
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Finding long-term YouTube video performers
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Facebook ads changes to know, now
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🗞️ Industry news from Meta, Pinterest, and more
Track Views Per Hour to Find Your Best-Performing YouTube Content
Want to know which of your YouTube videos are still working for you weeks or months after publishing? This free metric will help:
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Install the no-cost version of VidIQ and add its Google Chrome plugin. Once installed, it activates a feature called VidIQ Vision, which overlays performance data directly on YouTube pages.
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Look for the VPH (views per hour) number that appears next to your videos and any competitor's videos. This tells you how many views a video is currently earning every hour, regardless of when it was published.
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Use VPH to identify your evergreen winners. A video posted months ago that still pulls 2 to 3 views per hour is a compounding asset. A video posted last week with 0 VPH has already stopped working.
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Learn from competitors by visiting their channels with VidIQ Vision active. You can see which of their videos are still earning views, revealing what topics and formats have long-term staying power in your niche.
Pro Tip: Creators report that 50% or more of their monthly views come from content made weeks, months, or even years ago. VPH helps you see exactly which older videos are still driving that traffic so you can double down on what works.
Sean Cannell tracks VPH on his Think Media Podcast videos and shared specific examples: a video posted four months ago still earns 3 views per hour, a three-year-old video still earns 2 views per hour, and a six-month-old video still earns 2 views per hour. Those small numbers compound around the clock. YouTube is the only major platform where content continues generating views for years, and VPH is how you measure whether yours is doing that.
This tip was shared by Sean Cannell at Social Media Marketing World 2026.
Nobody's Figured This Out Alone
Whether you're the one everyone asks or the one still asking around, you're not supposed to have this figured out by yourself. At Social Media Marketing World and AI Business World, you're in a room full of people who are just as deep in it as you are.
What Meta's AI Takeover Means for Your Facebook Ads
Meta is quietly removing manual controls from its ads platform, and the changes are already showing up in some accounts. If you've been carefully choosing your own placements, audiences, or creative formats, you'll want to understand what's shifting and why. Tara Zirker, a returning speaker at Social Media Marketing World, breaks down what these updates mean for your ad strategy and where AI is actually outperforming human decision-making.
Why Manual Placement Controls Are Disappearing
Meta is rolling out changes that remove your ability to exclude individual ad placements. Learn why years of testing show this may actually improve your results, and what limited controls you still have at the account level.
The AI Creative Feature That Generated Full Video Ads From Static Images
Discover the beta feature Tara found on a client account that turned uploaded photos into polished video ads complete with AI avatars, scripted talking points, and a virtual facility walkthrough. No human input was required beyond the images already on the account.
The Algorithm Shift That's Rewriting the Rules on Ad Creative
Find out how Meta's newest algorithm works more like an organic content system than a traditional paid ads engine, and why the one thing it rewards most could change your entire creative strategy.
How to Use Meta AI as Your Free Ads Analyst
Meta AI can now connect directly to your ad account and Instagram profile to analyze performance and suggest next steps. Learn the specific prompts worth trying and how to set up automated weekly reports at no cost.
AI Agents That Handle Customer Conversations on Your Behalf
Meta's new Business Agent can qualify leads, recommend products, and even close sales through Messenger and WhatsApp. Find out how early adopters are using it to respond instantly and reduce the staffing burden that holds most small businesses back.
Want to Learn More?
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Watch on YouTube
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Listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music
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Read the show notes on Social Media Examiner
What's Your AI Level, Really?
You use AI every day — but how do you know if you're ahead of the curve or behind it? Most marketers are guessing, comparing themselves to whoever posted last on LinkedIn.
Find Your AI Level is a free three-minute quiz that scores where you actually stand — and shows you exactly what to do next to move up.
Meta Launches Meta One Subscription Plans Across Its Apps: Meta is consolidating expanded AI usage, creative features, and professional tools under Meta One, a subscription offering spanning Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Meta AI. Individual plans focus on customization and higher AI usage, while creator and business tiers add audience-growth, analytics, publishing, customer-service, verification, and account-management capabilities. Meta One is available globally with more than 50 features at launch, with additional integrations including Edits Plus and new AI agent capabilities planned over time. Meta
Meta Expands Creator Marketing With AI, APIs and Instagram Live Ads: Meta is expanding its Creator Marketing Hub globally with new tools designed to streamline creator discovery, outreach, permissions, content preparation, and Partnership Ad creation. Advertisers and agencies will also gain expanded APIs for finding and contacting creators across Facebook and Instagram, while Meta AI and the Meta Ads MCP connector bring creator campaigns into AI-assisted workflows. Starting September 29, Instagram Live video ads will also become generally available, giving brands a way to amplify creators' live content through Partnership Ads and connect real-time engagement with measurable campaign outcomes. Meta
Google Expands Data and Measurement Tools for AI-Powered Advertising: Google is strengthening its advertising measurement stack with deeper first-party data integrations and new tools for proving incremental business impact. Data Manager is being integrated into Google Analytics and DV360, its API is becoming universally available, and a new Data Strength Uplift Metric will quantify conversions recovered through improved first-party data setups. Google is also expanding Meridian with agentic modeling assistance, brand-signal measurement, and global access to GeoX experiments, giving marketers more ways to connect campaign activity with causal business outcomes. Google
Pinterest Launches Visual Search Ads for Performance Marketers: Pinterest is introducing Visual Search Ads, a lower-funnel advertising format that lets brands bid for prominent placements within visual search results and Pin closeups, connecting high-intent discovery directly to advertiser websites. The company is also expanding Performance+ with product-prioritization controls and self-serve A/B testing, while introducing a dedicated App Promotion objective for mobile growth. On the consumer side, the new Restyle experience uses Pinterest Intelligence to help users visualize and compare ideas within their own spaces. Pinterest
Threads Expands Podcast Promotion and Analytics Tools: Threads is rolling out an expanded podcast toolkit designed to help creators promote shows, turn standout episode moments into shareable content, and reconnect with listeners around new releases. The suite includes podcast profile cards and banners, episode and guest-focused formats, reminders for new releases, episode saving, and dedicated Podcast Insights measuring metrics such as reach, clicks, and saves. Meta
