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𧢠Four numbers from the new teen survey, and what to do with each
đ˘ TikTok, Reddit and X introduce new search advertising and lead generation tools
đ Ad of the day
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𧢠Four numbers from the new teen survey, and what to do with each
Piper Sandlerâs fall survey of about 9,000 US teens, released October 21, is short on surprises and long on usable numbers. If teens buy from you, or parents buy for them, each figure below points to one decision for the holidays.
The number: 6%
Teen spending rose 6% year over year.
What to do: find out whether teens are actually in your customer base before planning around them. Check birthday fields, survey answers, and audience reports from your ad platforms. No data? Run a one-question post-purchase survey for two weeks. If 15% or more of buyers are under 20, they deserve their own plan.
The number: 23%
Beauty took 23% of teen girlsâ spending.
What to do: if you sell beauty, build a gift bundle at a price parents find easy, such as $48. Work it through: $18 to make plus $6 to ship leaves $24 before ad costs, a 50% margin. Your numbers will differ, but run them before you design the box.
The number: 29%
Athletic brands held 29% of fashion mindshare.
What to do: athletic and athleisure sellers should lead teen creative with real use, made by people their age. Short videos of the product being worn or used beat studio shots for this group.
The number: about half
Among upper-income teens, Amazon accounted for about half of online shopping.
What to do: search your brand on Amazon. If resellers or knockoffs appear, teens may be buying those. Decide whether to list officially or tighten your distribution. Either way, make sure your own product page answers the questions a teen would otherwise take to Amazon reviews.
The hidden factor: who pays
In Q4, many teen products are bought by parents. Check December orders shipped to a different address or with gift notes. If 40% of teen-category orders carry gift signals, a large share of your creative should speak to parents with delivery dates, gift framing and easy returns. That figure is illustrative.
Run two ad sets, one aimed at younger audiences and one at parents, and compare cost per purchase and return rates. Expect teen-gifted products to come back as January exchanges.
A caution
Check each platformâs ad rules for minors, and keep beauty claims modest.
One thing to do Monday
Find your teen share. Every other decision in this piece depends on it, and it takes one export to get a first read.
đ˘ TikTok, Reddit and X introduce new search advertising and lead generation tools
TikTok, Reddit and X have announced new advertising features designed to help brands reach people who are actively searching for information, discovering products or showing interest in a business, with updates to keyword targeting, campaign reporting and lead collection.
The Breakdown:
TikTok introduced Impression Share and Top 1 Impression Share metrics for Search Ads, showing advertisers how often their ads appear in eligible searches and secure the top sponsored position.
TikTok also added AI-powered Keyword Packs, offering ready-made brand and category keyword suggestions refreshed daily using search volume, cost-per-click, and competition data.
Reddit is testing ads directly within its search results, matching promotions to relevant user queries and initially making the placements available to a select group of advertisers.
Reddit reports that 72% of its users visit the platform seeking information, while 64% have a specific goal, making search results a potentially valuable place to reach interested customers.
X has rolled out its updated Lead Gen Ads globally, featuring prominent CTA buttons, in-app lead collection, direct downloads, and CRM integrations for capturing leads from promoted posts.
All three platforms are making it easier for advertisers to reach people when theyâre already interested in something. TikTok helps brands find better keywords and track search visibility, Reddit is bringing ads into product discovery, and X is simplifying lead collection. The updates give marketers more ways to turn that interest into results.
đ Ad of the Day
What Works:
Native Note Format - The iPhone Notes-style layout feels instantly familiar and organic, creating a strong platform-native pattern interrupt that makes the ad read more like personal reasoning than polished advertising.
Comparison Builds Persuasion - Crossing out the downsides of regular coffee while checking the new benefits creates a simple before-after logic, reducing cognitive load and making the switch feel rational.
Product Adds Credibility - The pack sits beside the checklist as the proof point, keeping brand recall strong while the â100% Arabicaâ cue reassures shoppers this still behaves like real coffee.
Turn the ad into a note, checklist, or decision journal showing why someone switched. That structure makes product benefits feel self-discovered rather than aggressively sold.
đEvents
đĽ What Changes When Your AI Can Actually See Your Business
Today | 11 AM ET | Virtual Event
HubSpotâs product team will show how ChatGPT and Claude can work directly with CRM context instead of relying on whatever you paste into the chat. See how to get better answers, update customer records from the conversation, and control what AI can access across your workflows.
Canât attend the session live? Register anyway, and youâll get the recordings in 24 hours.
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