TikTok's plan to reimagine video advertising
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TikTok on Tuesday introduced a slew of new ad products designed to help brands tell higher-impact stories, beyond what they could do on traditional television or standard mobile video ads.
Why it matters: TikTok's huge reach has made it a must-buy for performance advertisers looking to sell goods or drive tune-in for shows. Now, executives told Axios, it's making it easier for marketers tell bigger brand stories at culturally relevant moments.
- "Historically, media buyers, advertisers and brands have looked at video as a way to reach a mass audience," said David Kaufman, head of monetization product solutions and operations for North America at TikTok.
- "The persuasion element of that — and the immersive and the storytelling elements of that — have been missing from the digital video experience, and they're now available on TikTok."
Zoom in: In a presentation to advertisers in New York on Tuesday, TikTok touted new ad products that allow marketers to take advantage of the cultural zeitgeist and tell more comprehensive stories.
- Advertisers can now buy a logo takeover, which will allow them to co-brand with TikTok on the logo launch page when users open the app.
- The company unveiled a new prime time sequential storytelling ad that allows brands to deliver up to three ads to the same user within a designated 15-minute window on the For You Feed, which is akin to TikTok's personalized home page for users.
- That format is meant to make it easy for brands to tell stories during live events or tentpole moments.
- A new TopReach format allows advertisers to purchase the first ad users see when they open the app and the first in-feed ad within their For You Feed.
- TikTok is also updating its Pulse Suite, or its ad product that allows advertisers to run campaigns adjacent to trending content, by aligning ads with a hand-selected set of creators or with moments when people are already talking about them and their product category.
Zoom out: Historically, TikTok's main customer base has been companies across media and entertainment, consumer packaged goods, beauty and luxury, said Khartoon Weiss, vice president and general manager of global business solutions at TikTok.
- Investments in new advertising products have made it possible for the company to attract more business from heavily regulated industries, like pharmaceutical companies.
- Those types of firms have historically faced challenges with performance ads, due to the plethora of disclosures required when messaging. More immersive video ad products give them the opportunity to tell broader brand stories with the efficiencies and insights they can't get through traditional TV.
- "You'll see a lot more of that, especially as we move into World Cup," Weiss said.
The big picture: Tuesday's presentation marked the first time TikTok presented to Madison Avenue ad buyers after striking a deal to divest its U.S. arm to a consortium of majority U.S. owners last year. Executives said the deal isn't changing the ad experience for marketers.
- "The great news is we are business as usual," Weiss said. Users and advertisers "won't experience anything different."
The bottom line: Weiss said it wouldn't be fair to suggest that TikTok's new ad offerings are trying to mimic television ads, but rather, "this is the modern video experience."
