Entertainment Becomes The Baseline For Brands Competing For Attention In Social Feeds

The platforms where people choose to spend their time—exploring content on TikTok and YouTube—are no longer social networks. They have become dense, competitive media environments where all content is judged by the same standard: entertainment. It's an environment where ad avoidance is a deeply ingrained reflex, where for many viewers, the appearance of a commercial is an immediate cue to look at their phones or swipe away. Attention is now a conditional privilege, controlled entirely by the audience.

We spoke with Sol Betesh, Co-Founder and CEO of Fallen Media, a creative studio specializing in developing entertainment-first content for brands. With six years of experience on the front lines of this digital transformation, he has a unique perspective on how brands can successfully navigate a landscape where the old rules no longer apply. He says success now depends on a new approach: making ads that are compelling enough to earn—and hold—an audience's attention on their own merits as entertainment.

"Advertising used to be on one side and entertainment used to be on another. Today, to capture attention, you have to make it entertaining, or people will swipe away," says Betesh. It offers a clear value exchange, directly countering audience skepticism. Viewers are receptive to advertising if the entertainment offered is compelling enough.

• The laughter loophole: Betesh points to a recent Streethearts activation that placed contestants in a king-size bed in the middle of Central Park as a clear example of how entertainment-first advertising works. The dynamic mirrors what has long made Super Bowl commercials culturally sticky, but now plays out daily across feeds. "People don’t care if they’re being advertised to if they like what they’re watching," he says. "You know you’re being sold to, but you’re laughing, so it doesn’t matter."

• Left on 'seen': As brands shift from chasing conversion to earning attention, the definition of return on investment changes with it. Betesh frames views as the baseline, not the finish line, arguing that real value shows up when content travels beyond the screen and into conversation. "You’re looking for eyeballs, of course, but you’re looking for authentic and engaged eyeballs," he says. "The highest order is when people are talking about it, whether that’s on social or with each other." In that model, attention becomes a signal of cultural relevance, and engagement becomes the metric that matters most.

For brands looking to adapt, one path is to partner with creative experts who understand the new environment. Succeeding with these partners often requires moving away from the rigid habits of traditional advertising, where brands often stick to requirements that are ineffective on modern platforms.

• #GoOrganic: "In the past, many brands would insist on adding a specific CTA or a graphic in the corner just to check off a box. We know what gets views and what doesn’t, so you have to trust the studio or influencer to do their thing and create content that will perform organically," Betesh explains.

• Beyond the dance: The second path is for brands to become entertainment entities themselves. But pursuing this by building an in-house studio poses a fundamental cultural challenge: it requires building an entertainment-focused team within a marketing-driven company. "Brands need to understand that the days of just hopping on a dancing trend or a trending sound are over. To compete with everything else in a busy feed, you have to move beyond that and create real, original entertainment."

The most forward-thinking brands are adopting a strategy that reflects where marketing is headed by 2026: trading one-off campaigns for long-term commitments that aim to co-build a community. "The podcasting model proves that long-term partnerships work. When you hear the same sponsor on a show for months on end, that consistency builds real equity with the audience. The same principle applies to the creator world," notes Betesh.

• Going steady: "Instead of working with a thousand influencers, brands should take longer-term bets on content they love. Find a creator or a show, commit for six months or a year, and become so ingrained in their content that you build a real connection with their audience. That’s what’s going to get you further." It's a strategy Betesh successfully deployed through a title sponsorship with Cash App on the popular show What's Poppin', where the brand was woven into the fabric of the show for an entire year through co-branded microphones and a series of ongoing campaign integrations.

Ultimately, the pressure is on brands to make their advertising worth watching. Betesh concludes that the move from a captive audience to a voluntary one leaves little room for mediocrity, transforming the ability to entertain from a creative choice into a core business imperative—though it remains a transition many are still struggling to navigate. "I think a lot of brands don’t know where to start. A lot of brands waste money in the wrong places."