☕️ YouTube is about to inflate your view counts

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ MarketingShot.

In today's MarketingShot:

📈 YouTube is about to inflate your view counts

📱 Reddit is testing AI-voiced videos of popular posts

🤖 Why LinkedIn won't stop the AI slop in your feed

🎬 Google will auto-resize your Performance Max video ads

🛒 ChatGPT shoppers will soon pay with store cards

Plus: 💡 5 strategies & tactics, 🎁 6 other news you might like, and 🧰 6 tools.

📈 YouTube is about to inflate your view counts LINK

Starting August 24, YouTube will count a view the moment any video begins to play, applying its Shorts method to all formats and pushing view counts up sharply across channels.

The old 30-second threshold will stay for "engaged views," which YouTube keeps as the main metric for monetization, so creator earnings and YouTube Partner Program eligibility will not change under this update.

YouTube says the wider count helps creators show their true scale to brand partners, though engaged views stay more relevant, and marketers should expect creators to claim sudden view jumps after August.

📱 Reddit is testing AI-voiced videos of popular posts LINK

Reddit has started a limited test that converts some text posts and comments into audio and short-form videos across its apps and website, letting users listen or watch instead of reading.

The experiment affects a sample of posts in select communities, and the original text stays unchanged while the new formats link back to it, with videos that appear to use AI-generated voices.

One example turns an eight-year-old r/boardgames post about road trip game suggestions into a three-minute video that narrates the question and top replies while showing the text on screen.

🤖 Why LinkedIn won't stop the AI slop in your feed LINK

LinkedIn's new "Seems like AI slop" button won't stop machine-written posts from filling feeds, because the platform's own algorithms still reward the formulaic, emotional content that users keep clicking on.

The flag button, launched in late July, feeds classifiers that cut a post's visibility in suggested feeds without deleting it, and LinkedIn plans private nudges for authors whose posts draw multiple flags.

A Pangram study of over one million posts found more than 40 percent of long-form LinkedIn content was fully AI-generated, with the platform making up nearly two-thirds of all AI-flagged items from a third of the sample.

🎬 Google will auto-resize your Performance Max video ads LINK

Google Ads is rolling out an asset optimization upgrade that uses generative AI to extend existing Performance Max video ads into missing aspect ratios, creating versions of an advertiser's creative that can run across more inventory.

The update builds on Google's existing video enhancements, which automatically convert horizontal videos into vertical and square formats, with the stated goal of maximizing video ad reach while improving the viewing experience.

Advertisers who don't want the new generative AI optimization can contact their account management team or submit Google's opt-out form by September 4th, and video settings can be changed anytime within a Google Ads account.

🛒 ChatGPT shoppers will soon pay with store cards LINK

Synchrony Financial, the credit card issuer for Amazon, Walmart and Lowe's, is teaming up with OpenAI to let shoppers buy products directly inside ChatGPT using their store cards.

Getting general-purpose cards to work within ChatGPT will probably take six to 12 months, and longer for private label store cards, which need extra coordination with the individual retailers.

The deal leaves open who pays for transactions completed inside ChatGPT, with Synchrony saying the economics must be negotiated among retailers, itself and OpenAI, while it also talks with Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini.

💡 Strategies & Tactics

> Building an AI Creative Director: From Ideas to Finished Content With Claude: Turn a daily voice journal into multi-platform content drafts by training Claude on your voice and style, keeping a human approving every step.

> ‘About’ Pages Shape AI Visibility: Write your About page with plain, factual language and consistent messaging so AI tools like ChatGPT judge your business as credible enough to cite.

> YouTube shows up on 80.2% of demo searches. Your demo video is on Wistia.: Post demo, comparison, and review videos on YouTube because Google ranks them on 80% of software demo searches and feeds them into AI answers.

> Inside BetterHelp’s ‘repeatable, scalable’ comments-section social strategy: Commenting on viral posts where the brand genuinely fits, without selling, grew BetterHelp's daily TikTok followers roughly hundredfold by building trust.

> Running TikTok campaigns with impact, missed opportunities that make all the difference: Treat TikTok as a lead-generation engine by pre-qualifying prospects with in-ad quizzes and syncing leads into HubSpot for follow-up nurturing.

Other news you might like

• AI shopping is reshaping retail fulfillment as 45% of US consumers adopt itLINK

• X algorithm insights highlight key posting strategiesLINK

• Google pushes budget-capped campaigns back up to target CPALINK

• Brands shake up back-to-school marketing to reach ‘hyper value-seekers’LINK

• Women’s sports see 120% rise in ad spend since 2022 as viewership grows YoY: ReportLINK

• Price vs volume: How are brands fighting consumer fatigue to drive growth?LINK

🧰 Trending tools

OpenSEO: provides keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink data, and site audits via MCP integration, feeding your AI agent real data from $10/month.LINK

Glaze by Raycast: builds native Mac apps from plain-language prompts that run offline, launch from your dock, and tap into full system access.LINK

Unabyss for Claude: pulls context from Slack, Gmail, Notion, and GitHub into structured memory shared with any MCP tool, so you stop re-explaining yourself.LINK

JustVibe: turns plain-text task descriptions like planning a Tokyo trip into functional, interactive apps instantly, without writing any code.LINK

PlugThis: builds working Chrome extensions from plain-English prompts, generating code, backend logic, icons, and store listings so you skip hours of manual setup.LINK

Deskcommcrm: Open-source AI sales OS, self-hosted CRM with native AI agents + WhatsApp (WAHA). Open alternative to Kommo, Octadesk & Intercom for any business that sells by chat. MCP-ready, multi-tenant, LGPD.LINK

See you tomorrow for a new dose of ☕️ MarketingShot!