Professional social network LinkedIn has set its sights on growing creator monetisation opportunities, by rebranding and repositioning its Wire programme.
Now called Brandlink, the programme allows brands to place video ads alongside publisher content in the LinkedIn app. In addition, however, brands will also be able to place their ads alongside creator-produced video content as well.
Initially, the number of creators available to brands is limited to a select few – the likes of Steven Bartlett, Bernard Marr, Rebecca Minkoff, Allie K. Miller, Candace Nelson, Guy Raz, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Shelley Zalis. But the ambition is to grow this pool to take advantage of the increased volume of video on the platform.
Revealing the new strategy, LinkedIn VP of product management Lindsey Edwards said: “Context matters, especially in advertising. When you deliver ads against contextually relevant content, you become memorable. Coupling this with video, which 62% of B2B marketers believe is most effective in reaching and influencing members of the buyer group, you increase brand recall. That’s why we’re continuing to double down on our investment in video – one of the fastest growing formats on LinkedIn.”
According to Edwards, BrandLink “delivers more relevant video content to members while also allowing advertisers to align with editorial content from trusted publishers and, now, some of the world’s top creator voices. Since launching BrandLink last June (as Wire), advertisers are seeing, on-average, a 130% higher video completion rate and 23% higher view rate when compared to standard video ads. They also find that members who view their BrandLink ads are up to 18% more likely to become a lead.”
With the extended programme, said Edwards, “marketers can choose to sponsor new Shows by LinkedIn, which represent a collection of exclusive video content produced by creators and publishers around core themes that matter to our community of more than 1 billion members, like AI, small business or female leadership.”
Explaining how it works, Edwards said: “Brands can choose from a collection of Shows by LinkedIn that include exclusive content from creators and publishers. The initial sets of shows will focus on the CEO playbook, AI & innovation, starting and scaling a business, female entrepreneurship and small business stories. With each show, a brand will have the opportunity to run their ads against multiple creators and publishers’ content. To participate, a brand will work with us to identify their preferred show and run in-stream video ads ahead of the creator and publisher content on LinkedIn. Each creator and publisher will produce original content, aligned to a theme that is unique to LinkedIn’s community, giving brands an exclusive, authentic and engaging way to target the audience they want to reach with their campaign.”
As part of the BrandLink expansion, LinkedIn is also onboarding more publishers, including ADWEEK, Condé Nast, Der Spiegel, Dynamo, Entrepreneur Media, Fast Company, Front Office Sports, Inc. Magazine, Morning Brew, Penske Media Corporation, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, and WaitWhat. It is also offering multilingual content, enabling brands to strategically target audiences.
Commenting on the new programme, author and futurist Bernard Marr said: “Partnering with LinkedIn enables me to bring cutting-edge, actionable insights on AI and the future of work directly to the world’s top professionals.”
Candace Nelson, found of Sprinkles and Pizzana, added: “The quality of engagement on LinkedIn is unmatched. People come to grow—not just scroll. Every post I share leads to real conversations, real relationships, and real results—from press to partnerships to revenue. No other platform delivers like this.”
Pictured – Candace Nelson
