Unless you’ve somehow managed to avoid matching with a crypto fiend on Hinge recently, you’ve probably heard about Kim Kardashian’s recent SEC charges.

But in case you need a recap, here’s what went down: Kim Kardashian agreed to pay a $1.26 million fine to the SEC for failing to disclose that EthereumMax paid her $250k to promote the coin—which the SEC deems a crypto asset security—on Instagram.

Kardashian’s settlement could cause marketers working on crypto-related brands or campaigns to be more buttoned-up when working with influencers, especially as regulation of cryptocurrency ramps up and definitions in the space—like which coins are considered securities by the SEC, for instance—aren’t always clear.

What’s next: Three marketers Marketing Brew spoke to said that they’re going to be extra careful about dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s when it comes to influencer requirements for crypto posts—whether they’re explicitly mandated by the platforms and government or not.

Walking on eggshells

Brad Michelson, eToro’s head of US marketing, told us that Kardashian’s SEC settlement was a “wake-up call” for both marketers and influencers. “What we’re learning more and more as marketers in this industry is that you have to be even more careful than some brands are,” he said.

• Michelson said he’d be sure to continue looping eToro’s compliance counterparts into the strategy process from “beginning to end” and be very straightforward with influencers about regulations and expectations.
• “That’s the point that regulators are trying to get across here: They’re really serious about these laws. They’re not just guidelines, these are actually enforceable rules,” Michelson explained.
• He noted that this is something his team will “certainly” be talking about ahead of their next round of influencer campaigns.

Read what others had to say here.—PB

It’s officially spooky season, which means it’s Shudder’s time to shine.

The AMC Networks-owned streaming service, which specializes in horror programming, caters to fans of the genre year-round, but there’s something particularly potent about its service when the leaves begin to change.

• “This time of year brings a whole world of people who might not be excited about horror every day of the year, but this is also their time to watch it,” said Sam Zimmerman, Shudder’s VP of programming. “We really think, through September and October and the Halloween season, now is the time for quite literally everyone to come in.”
• Shudder doesn’t break out its subscriber base individually (AMC Networks’ portfolio of six niche streamers last reported 10.8 million total subscribers), but Zimmerman said there is a “major influx” of new subscribers during Halloween season.
• That’s, in part, because this time of year, “everyone is looking for horror programming,” he said.

Other streamers seem to know it, too: As the nights grow longer and the autumn air grows crisper, just about every streaming service wants subscribers to know about its lineup of scary movies and shows perfectly suited to the season. It’s an indication of a particularly powerful opportunity that Halloween and other short-lived seasonal moments present in the never-ending quest to win over viewers.

“There’s more of a cultural significance [to] watching these things during a certain timeframe,” said Molly Barth, a senior cultural strategist at cultural intelligence consultancy sparks & honey. “It gets you into the mood. It gets you into that fall mindset.”

Continue reading here.—KS

Netflix’s highly anticipated ad-supported tier will debut in the US in less than three weeks, Netflix announced Thursday, earlier than previously expected and ahead of rival Disney+’s own ad-supported offering.

The tier, called Basic with Ads, will cost new subscribers $6.99 a month and will include an average of between four and five minutes of ads per hour in the form of 15- and 30-second pre-roll and mid-roll ads. Netflix’s ad-free Basic, Standard, and Premium plans (which start at $9.99 a month) will remain unchanged.

The tier will roll out in Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Spain, the UK and the US on Nov. 3. It’ll roll out in Canada and Mexico on Nov. 1, and in Spain on Nov. 10.

What else should advertisers know?

Here’s a quick rundown:

• Ads can be broadly targeted by country and programming genre, like action, drama, or romance. Marketers can choose not to run ads against certain content, like programming containing sex, nudity, or graphic violence.
• In the future, information like subscriber age and gender will be used for targeting, said Jeremi Gorman, Netflix’s president of worldwide advertising.
• Neither Netflix nor its advertising partner, Microsoft, will use data outside of the streamer for ad targeting, Gorman said. The company will not accept political ads nor ads for tobacco or firearms.
• DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science will begin verifying viewability and traffic validity beginning in the first quarter of 2023.
• Netflix ad viewership will be measured through Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings in the US in 2023.

Beating the competition: Netflix’s ad-supported tier will arrive more than a month ahead of Disney+’s forthcoming ad-supported tier, slated to debut Dec. 8. Netflix’s Basic with Ads will also be $1 less than Disney+’s $7.99-a-month ad-supported tier.

As expected, advertisers seem to be all in. The streamer is “nearly sold out” of its launch inventory and has lined up “hundreds of advertisers” from around the world ahead of its November debut, including from auto brands, CPG brands, travel brands, retailers, and luxury brands, Gorman said; in press materials, cosmetics brands NYX and L’Oréal Paris were featured as advertisers.—KS

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Link in bio: Twitter now enables professional accounts to add a CTA link to their profiles.

Cast your vote: How to drum up engagement on Instagram Stories using poll stickers.

Easy as 1, 2, 3: Here’s a primer on the fundamentals of influencer marketing.

Curious to know why GoPro would bring 40 creators to Switzerland? The Brew’s Jack Appleby is serving up the inside scoop on this year’s GoPro Creator Summit. Sitting down with Kelly Baker, senior director of Community Marketing, Jack gets to know the impact and undertaking of such an event, and how the GoPro team throws this best-in-class influencer activation.

It’s all going down on October 27. We hope to see you there!

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Heinz knows you use ketchup as fake blood—now they’re selling Halloween makeup kits
2. Target is selling clam-flavored mayonnaise with a Cards Against Humanity card pack fully submerged inside
3. Kraft begins beef with McDonald’s in ‘Where’s the Mac?’ push
4. Larry David makes fun of the metaverse in this hilarious campaign

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Companies are claiming ‘carbon neutrality’—but what does that mean?
• Inside women’s healthcare org Tia’s first influencer marketing campaign
• How CMOs are thinking about new privacy restrictions