What is the relevance of Threads for advertisers?

A question that one always has to ask oneself with new social media platforms and which leads to further questions: Who is the target audience of Threads? Is there already a monetary plan on the part of Meta to market advertising space on Threads? How relevant is the platform for the advertising-relevant target group, especially in German-speaking countries?

Briefly about Threads: Threads is a short messaging service that copies many functions from Twitter. Texts, pictures and videos can be uploaded. Texts can be up to 500 characters long, videos up to five minutes.

Even though Threads is not yet available in Germany (but you can log in), it is worth the thought experiment of whether Threads could become more relevant for advertisers in German-speaking countries than Twitter ever was.

Even though the number of active Twitter users worldwide is 350 million, Twitter plays a rather subordinate role in Germany. Potentially, Twitter ads reach 14 million people here. By comparison, Instagram reaches twice as many people with almost 28 million. This means that the potentially reachable target group on Twitter is relatively small for advertisers in Germany – especially if special targeting is also used.

Supposed advertising advantage Threads: User numbers break all records

Launched at the beginning of July, Threads broke the 100-million-user mark after just one week, putting Twitter under a lot of pressure. The worldwide success leads us to expect high registration numbers in Germany as well, as soon as the service should be available here – because at the moment the setup does not seem to be compatible with EU data protection regulations.

Threads’ task now is to keep the number of users high, offer them something and thus make the platform attractive for advertisers. (Spoiler: The initial hype seems to be over again, because the number of users is plummeting).

Supposed advertising advantage Threads: Connection to meta-network

Through the direct connection to the Meta network, advertisers can be sure that the technical possibilities for advertising are definitely available. In addition, the connection to Meta also seems to be very binding for users: For one thing, Threads cannot be used without an Instagram account so far, and for another, deleting the Threads account is also associated with the loss of the Instagram account. A scoundrel who thinks evil of that.

The next few months will show how large the active Threads community really is and, in connection with that, how large the relevant advertising target group will be – provided the platform is approved in Germany.