App Trends for Growth Marketers, Chapter #4, TikTok

Chapter #4: TikTok Continues to seek market share

TikTok Monthly Active Users (MAUs) have surpassed those of Instagram in most sizeable regions: 2023 Jan-Sep’2023 MAUs.

• SEA TikTok MAUs (319 mn) vs Instagram (271 mn)

• US TikTok MAUs (137 mn) vs Instagram (124 mn)

• EU TikTok MAUs (406 mn) vs Instagram (470 mn)

TikTok is continuing to seek market share by pursuing innovation. For example, the launch of the Digital Out Of Home ads feature and the Search ads toggle indicate their growing ambitions to expand discovery within the growth marketing community. 

Additionally, TikTok is also exploring a groundbreaking partnership with Google, the idea being to integrate Google search within TikTok search functionality. Younger consumers already use TikTok for search purposes, which shows ambition to capture this behavior.

Impact of TikTok’s Rise on Social Media Budgets

• TikTok’s rising prominence is reshaping social media spending patterns, with users spending an average of 28.4 minutes/day on the app, surpassing engagement on other platforms.
• From 2019 to 2023, the amount of time users spent on TikTok each day increased by 28.4 minutes—an overall rise of 103.6% and an average annual growth rate of 20.1%. In 2024, experts forecast the average time spent on TikTok to rise at a slower rate of 4.7% to 55.8 minutes.
• Marketers will likely continue to divert some of their Meta budgets to TikTok due to its expanding user base, high engagement, and innovative features. Platforms that fail to adapt to changing user behavior and keep up with TikTok’s growth and innovation risk losing market share.
• TikTok’s share of digital ad spend is expected to grow from 2.2% in 2023 to 3% in 2025, with some brands increasing their budgets by up to 20%. This growth is driven by TikTok’s increasing popularity, user base, and user engagement, which are driving advertisers to allocate more budget to the platform.
• In 2023, TikTok’s ad spending reached $3.8 billion, showing a consistent quarterly increase from $805 million in Q1 to $1.2 billion in Q4, marking a 43% rise by year-end.

Impact of TikTok’s Rise on Client Campaigns

TikTok’s growing user base (MAUs) is not yet fully reflected in client campaigns. Reasons for this include:

• Creative challenges in creating authentic content for TikTok’s audience.

• Mistrust of TikTok’s user demographics.

While we encourage advertising on TikTok due to its scalability and niche audience potential, it comes with its own challenges.

• Creating engaging, authentic, and humorous content is difficult for companies unfamiliar with TikTok’s culture.

• TikTok’s perceived younger demographic may lead brands to question its suitability for their target audience.

Overall, TikTok is a promising platform for advertisers, but some challenges need to be addressed.-     

Unlocking New Marketing Opportunities with TikTok Search

The introduction of TikTok Search has revolutionized how marketers reach Gen Z users, providing a platform for tailored and engaging search strategies. There is a drastic shift in information-seeking behaviors, globally, particularly among Gen Z, for personalized, algorithm-driven social networks, with 48% favoring them over traditional search engines. In the U.S., TikTok is emerging as a favored platform for information searches, used by over two-fifths of Americans as a search engine. This trend is even more pronounced among Gen Z individuals, nearly 10% of whom prefer TikTok over Google for their search needs. Overarchingly, this is fueled by their need for video-based results, relatable content, and personalized recommendations.

Over 50% of Gen Z in the US prefer TikTok as their search engine, indicating a preference for video-based results, relatable content, and personalized recommendations. The potential integration of Google Search into TikTok could further enhance content strategies, user intent insights, and targeting approaches through data sharing.

Finding out what makes TikTok’s OOH ads stand out

• Unique brand alignment: TikTok’s OOH ads will help solidify brand association with TikTok in viewers’ minds.

• Interactive ad experiences: TikTok’s OOH ads can create interactive experiences, enhancing engagement and user experience.

• Shareable offline experiences: TikTok’s OOH ads can foster memorable offline experiences that users share with their networks.

• Unprecedented creativity: The new placement opens up unexplored avenues for brands to leverage TikTok’s OOH ad space.

Collaborating with influencers vs. content creators

Influencers

• Nurture long-term partnerships with brands, leveraging the trust and rapport they’ve carefully cultivated with their followers.

• Possess a powerful voice that resonates deeply with their target audience, making them influential brand advocates.

• Invest significant time and resources in building their personal brand, ensuring their endorsements carry weight and credibility.

Content Creators

• Specialize in crafting high-quality content tailored to specific brand messaging and objectives.

• Demonstrate adaptability in their approach, swiftly incorporating trending topics to maintain relevance and engagement.

• Offer a flexible and responsive content creation model, enabling effective execution of short-term campaigns.

Find out how we enable client success working with influencers and creators on TikTok