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Topics we'll cover today:
💠 Instagram Is Coming for YouTube. What Does That Mean for Advertisers?
💠 Walmart Is Opening Its Doors to AI Shopping Agents
💠 Meta Wants Advertisers to Own the Moment
💠 What Makes a Customer Want Every New Release?
💠 Latest news in the DTC space

Imagine opening Instagram and watching a 30-minute video.

Or even a one-hour podcast.

Sounds strange, right?

Well, Instagram has started testing something called Features, a new long-form video experience that supports videos up to 90 minutes.

Yes, 90 minutes!

The test is currently limited, but if Instagram decides to roll this out more broadly, I think it could have some pretty interesting implications for Meta advertisers.

Think about how we use these platforms today.

On Instagram, we scroll. Watch a Reel, maybe two, and move on.

On YouTube, we sit down to watch something. Sometimes for 10 minutes, sometimes for an hour.

That's a VERY different type of attention.

Now, imagine Instagram getting people to spend more time watching longer videos.

More time on the platform could mean more opportunities for Meta to show ads.

And more ad inventory could eventually give Meta's algorithm additional opportunities to reach potential customers.

Sounds great!

But there's something else I've been thinking about.

Could longer viewing sessions change the way Meta advertisers reach and influence customers?

Think about someone watching a 40-minute interview and seeing an ad halfway through.

They don't click. But three days later, they remember the product and buy it.

Would Meta be able to measure that impact accurately?

And could we eventually see advertising placements within long-form videos, similar to YouTube?

To be clear, Meta hasn't announced ads within Features. These are possibilities I'm thinking about if the format takes off.

And there's a big question we shouldn't ignore.

Will people actually want to watch long videos on Instagram?

Because adding a feature is one thing. Changing how millions of people use a platform is something else.

What I'll be watching closely is whether longer viewing sessions create better advertising opportunities, or simply more impressions.

Those are two very different outcomes for advertisers.

What do you think? Would you watch a 30-minute video on Instagram?

—
Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content.

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As BFCM gets closer, many brands reach for the same lever: raise creator commission and hope they push harder.

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Click & Grow, the indoor smart garden brand, set its rates by performance: 10% for new partners, up to 15% and 20% for those who sell the most. For BFCM, it raised rates for the season only, instead of changing everyone’s rate for good. The result: BFCM affiliate revenue up 272% year over year.

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Imagine telling your AI assistant:

"Order my usual groceries for the week. Keep it under $150."

And that's it.

It finds the products, adds them to your cart, and places the order.

Well, Walmart is getting ready for exactly that.

The company announced three new tools to let third-party AI agents shop on behalf of customers.

Here's how it'll work:

👉 Agent Profiles: Each AI agent gets its own profile connected to your Walmart account. You can track its purchases and decide whether it needs your approval before buying.
👉 Spending limits: You can authorize an agent to spend up to a certain amount without asking you every single time.
👉 Walmart Agent Gateway: A direct connection that lets approved AI agents interact with Walmart's shopping systems instead of navigating its website like a human.

That last one caught my attention.

Today, most e-commerce websites are designed around a pretty familiar customer journey.

Someone visits your store, browses products, reads descriptions, adds something to their cart, and checks out.

But what happens when an AI agent does all of that?

Your next customer might never visit your website.

And that raises some interesting questions for DTC brands.

How do you convince an AI agent to recommend YOUR product over a competitor's?

How much will product information, reviews, pricing, and availability influence those recommendations?

And what happens to your conversion rate, attribution, and customer acquisition strategy when the purchase happens through an agent?

We're still early.

Walmart's Agent Profiles are expected to launch in November, while its Agent Gateway will begin with a beta for companies and developers.

But seeing one of the world's largest retailers build infrastructure specifically for AI agents tells me something.

Agentic commerce is moving beyond the chatbot.

And I think brands should start paying attention to how their products will be discovered and evaluated when AI agents become part of the buying process.

Would you let an AI agent buy products for you without approving every purchase?

Meta just introduced a new advertising option called Ads Super Burst.

And the concept is pretty interesting.

Instead of spreading your ad impressions over several days or weeks, you can reserve a window of just 3 to 24 hours.

During that period, Meta concentrates your campaign's reach.

Think about a major product launch.

Or a Black Friday promotion.

Or a big event where you want as many people as possible to see your message within a few hours.

That's what Ads Super Burst is designed for.

Here's what you can do:

👉 Reserve a 3 to 24-hour advertising window.
👉 Use Reach Planner to estimate reach and pricing in advance, with delivery guaranteed against those estimates.
👉 Request category exclusivity, meaning competitors in your category can't book the same window.

Pretty cool, right?

Meta says advertisers testing the feature reached a median of 34 million people per campaign, with a 2.9-point lift in ad recall.

But before you get too excited...

I wouldn't rush to use this for your next product launch.

At least, not without understanding the economics.

For most DTC brands, the objective is to acquire customers profitably.

And concentrating millions of impressions into a few hours doesn't necessarily mean you'll generate more incremental sales.

There's also the question of cost. Meta hasn't publicly specified a minimum investment for this format.

My take?

I can see this being interesting for larger brands with significant awareness budgets, especially around major launches or events.

For smaller brands, I'd rather focus on having the right offer, creative, and campaign structure before paying a premium to reach everyone at once.

Because reaching more people is easy when you have the budget.

Getting those people to buy profitably is a different story.

Ads Super Burst is rolling out in phases this month.

Would you test it for your next big launch?

—
Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content.

For Baby Bling, Summer Harris is seeing that enthusiasm return through TikTok live selling.

With a live seller broadcasting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the brand is building a community of women who look forward to new products and limited editions.

Summer describes it as the return of something the business had experienced before: customers becoming collectors.

In this episode of The DTC Insider, Brian Roisentul talks with Summer Harris, co-founder of Baby Bling about how live selling is helping the brand reconnect with its customers.

We talk about:

🎙 Tune in.

📰 Meta’s Muse Agent Was Set Up By Over 10M People Across The US [read more]
📰 TikTok playbook outlines the value of its high-end ad options [read more]
📰 Pinterest Introduces New Programmatic Buying Solution [read more]

📖 How to Build a Business-First Meta Ad Account
📖 How To Set Up ChatGPT Ads
📖 Where 7–8 Figure Brands Get Stuck (And How To Fix It)
📖 What Do Successful Brands Have In Common?

If you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It’d mean the world to me.

Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR, a growth marketing agency he started in 2013 to help e-commerce brands unlock hidden revenue by identifying misalignments between their marketing and customer behavior. He is also the host of The DTC Insider podcast, where he interviews thought leaders, founders, and directors in the e-commerce space.

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