In an effort to earn more ad dollars despite the impending US ban, TikTok is introducing new advertising products and opportunities that will allow marketers to better control the type of content their ads appear on.
The company says it will use genetic artificial intelligence to curate brand-safe content trends. to expand the selection of “tentpole” moments, such as the Paris Olympics and the Met Gala. and allow advertisers to buy slots with specific networks and content offerings.
The company introduced its ‘Pulse Premiere’ ad slot last year and is now adding new partners to it. The offering is focused on attracting more premium advertising dollars by allowing advertisers to place their ads directly after publisher and media content in more than a dozen categories, including lifestyle, sports, entertainment and education. Ads will appear on content from select publishers in the app’s For You feed.
The slot is meant to appeal more to TV advertisers who are used to being able to buy ads that run alongside specific programs.
TikTok has previously partnered with companies like NBCUniversal, Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, BuzzFeed, Hearst Magazines, Major League Soccer, UFC, Vox and more. It now adds Paramount Global and the NHL to its list of Premiere partners.
The previous partnership gave advertisers the option to buy ads that run alongside content from, say, NBCUniversal — think “Saturday Night Live,” “America’s Got Talent,” “Today Show,” Bravo and more. The new partnership with Paramount Global, for example, will allow advertisers to place ads on content from MTV, CBS Sports, The Daily Show, Entertainment Tonight and more.
TikTok said it will also work with Nielsen ONE Ads and iSpot.tv to enable advertisers to measure how their TikTok ads add “incremental and complementary reach” to their TV campaigns, the company said.
The company is introducing these new ad options at this year’s IAB NewFronts 2024, where a number of media companies and social apps are pitching to advertisers. TikTok took the opportunity to share some statistics about the success of its ad offerings, noting, for example, that the TikTok Pulse suite — which guarantees ads next to the top 4% of trending videos, seasonal moments, or top content — increases ad recall by 9.8%.
The company also touted its ability to reach users who may not have seen TV ads, saying that 58% of all TikTok campaign impressions reached a unique audience that was “not exposed” to the TV portion of the campaign. Additionally, it reported that advertisers who added TikTok to their TV campaigns reached an additional 22% of their audience.
TikTok’s announcement is apparently business as usual for the company, as it represents deals finalized long before the US ban bill was finalized, but the fate of the app’s future in the country is uncertain. Although the company’s parent company, ByteDance, has vowed to fight the ban, it has also done so threatened to leave the country rather than cede. Obviously, that wouldn’t be great for its ability to bring in ad dollars.
