ClickZ Meta Insider | AI Capex Surges As Meta's Ads Rebound

ClickZ Meta Insider

Here's what's happening this week in the world of Meta performance:
- Meta posts ad surge, doubles down on AI capex.
- Brand Rights Protection gets streamlined UI for faster takedowns.
- Massive fake-shop campaign targets social commerce and crypto.
- Instagram debuts Friends Map; location-based social heats up.
- Map backlash grows; privacy settings under fresh scrutiny.

⏱️ Why Your Attribution Model Might Be Leading You Astray

At eTail Boston 2025, Fospha’s Chief Product Officer Dom Devlin joined leaders from Ahold Delhaize, Fleet Feet and Bonsai to tackle one of marketing’s most expensive blind spots: how brands measure performance across channels.

Too many brands still skew budgets toward the final click - because that’s the only place their reporting gives them certainty, all while under-funding the demand generation that actually drives long-term growth. Fleet Feet’s Tiffany Lee shared how cutting upper-funnel spend for just eight months saw new customer acquisition drop sharply, only recovering once awareness campaigns were restored.

Dom added another layer: the marketplace blind spot. Fospha’s data shows 42% of Amazon sales are influenced by non-Amazon ads - yet most reporting tools treat those sales as “organic,” meaning the channels that triggered the purchase never get the credit. Without that visibility, key growth drivers are left under-invested.

This is where Fospha’s Halo capability comes in - bringing DTC and marketplace sales into one Unified ROAS metric. It allows brands to see the true impact of channels like TikTok, Meta, and YouTube across all revenue streams, not just their own sites, and make confident, evidence-based decisions about where to spend next.

🔎 Read the full session insights to see all the panel’s takeaways on full-funnel measurement and closing marketplace gaps

📥️ Explore Fospha’s Halo Report to uncover how brands like Nécessaire used it to beat their Prime Day benchmarks by 47%

📌WEEKLY MUST-KNOWS

ADVERTISING ECONOMICS
Meta Platforms: Balancing Ad-Driven Resilience With AI-Driven Ambition In Q2 2025
Meta’s Q2 revenue hit $47.52B (+22% YoY) as ad impressions rose 11% and price per ad climbed 9%, while the company lifted AI capex to $17B in Q2 and $66–72B for the year. The mix signals near-term auction strength and rising costs tied to AI infrastructure that could influence CPMs and product velocity. Advertisers and finance leads should expect continued reach growth with potential cost pressure as AI investments scale.

BRAND SAFETY
Meta Revamps Business Protection Tools, Bringing A More Seamless User Interface
Meta updated its Brand Rights Protection tools across platforms, improving the interface and accessibility (including availability in Canada). Streamlined IP enforcement should shorten takedown cycles and reduce counterfeit exposure across Shops and ads. Brand owners, marketplace teams, and legal/compliance functions gain a clearer path to reduce fraud and protect conversion.

PLATFORM SECURITY
Over 10,000 Fake TikTok And Facebook Shops Used To Spread Malware And Steal Cryptocurrency: Report
Researchers flagged a large-scale campaign using fake TikTok and Facebook shops to distribute malware and defraud users of cryptocurrency. The spike in sophisticated impersonation elevates social commerce risk and threatens trust, conversion, and account security. ECommerce brands and paid social teams should tighten page verification, UGC moderation, and customer education while coordinating with platform enforcement.

⚡QUICK READS

Instagram Feature Competes With 'Snap Map': Instagram’s opt-in Friends Map adds real-time location sharing, creating a new social surface that could later enable local discovery and proximity-based engagement.(More)

Instagram's Latest Controversial Feature Is A Prime Example Of Why I Hardly Use It: Early backlash to Instagram’s map centers on feature creep and privacy trade-offs, signaling potential user friction brands should monitor before building location-led activations.(More)

What The Tech: Instagram Location Feature: Local coverage highlights simple privacy controls for Instagram’s map, underscoring a near-term need for internal social teams and creators to audit settings and policies.(More)

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