Could BeReal be the first successful social media channel to grow without ad support?

Knowing when to introduce ads is the key to growth — or demise — among social networks. Marketers are following along to find out which path BeReal will tread.

Additional coverage:

• Last week, new questions about brand safety surfaced as Twitter allowed users to pay $8 to be verified, with some posing as brands like Eli Lilly and Nintendo and posting statements said brands would likely never post. More in this Digiday+ Marketing Briefing.
• Media agencies are cautiously bracing for a potential recession, even as their clients grapple with inflation and supply chain issues. More from this Digiday+ report.
• The impending demise of the third-party cookie and increasing scrutiny from privacy regulators have pressed advertisers, agencies, tech platforms and media companies to adopt data clean rooms. Essence Global's Therran Oliphant discussed this and more during the latest episode of the Digiday Podcast.
• Given the current global economic outlook, announcements of mergers and acquisitions are rare compared to 2021. Still, Avocet and Lumen Research have bucked that trend.
• Publishers are clearly pessimistic about how the economy will affect their revenues from ad sales, but there is significantly less pessimism about how subscriptions will fare, Digiday+ Research found.
• Dentsu's announced management restructure on Monday had been expected since the moment Wendy Clark, its outgoing Dentsu International CEO, said she would leave the company at the end of this year. Here's a rundown.
• For the first time in nearly a decade, cupcake brand Crumbs is returning online. It plans to spend its marketing budget on outdoor advertising and social media to reach new audiences.