How TikTok plans to secure ad dollars for this year’s holiday season
This holiday season could be pretty instructive as to whether TiKTok will continue to be a place for smaller-sized ad budgets, rather than larger ones.
After all, this season is notorious for its bouts of irrational budget spending — a “use it or lose it” scenario when it comes to marketing expenditure.
If TikTok is ever going to capture a larger share of the advertising pie, this is the opportune moment. Marketers tend to be more generous with their budgets during this time of the year than any other, primarily because if they don’t utilize their remaining dollars, they risk having a smaller allocation in the future.
Yet, up until now, TikTok hasn’t made a huge dent in those advertising budgets. Yes, more money is pouring into the app at a faster rate than many of its competitors, but it’s starting from a smaller base. Advertising on the platform is still predominantly in the experimental phase, and it’s not where the big ad dollars are going. You only need to look at the likes of Uber and Athlete’s Foot to see the focus is still on their organic strategies.
“While TikTok accounts for less than 10% of total spend for our marketing firm, it has more than doubled year over year,” Rob Jewell, chief growth officer at marketing agency Power Digital, which works for clients such as Procter & Gamble, Uniqlo and Casper, previously told Digiday. “We anticipate a similar growth trajectory in 2023 as the channel keeps attracting more advertisers eager to scale their TikTok efforts.”
Fast forward to now and Power Digital’s existing clients are already on a 32% upward trajectory from the same period last year, both in scaling their spend and new brands entering the TikTok advertising space with lower budgets. The agency’s director of TikTok,