TV may have long been king of the hill in the advertising world – but TikTok is coming out hard with new ad products, boasting to be more effective than a raft of traditional and digital ad options.
Amongst the platform’s announcements this week:
- Shop Ads, extending to TikTok Shop.
- Video Shopping Ads available with simpler onboarding new formats and discoverable from search.
- TikTok Shop itself, a storefront for showcasing and selling products within the TikTok app.
Bullishly, the company is showing data from a range of internal and external sources, including, for example, claiming TikTok’s ROAS is more than double that of Linear TV, Social and OLV for Total Retail (source: Nielsen).
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Ray Cao, Global Head of Monetization Product Strategy & Operation, TikTok, explains how its latest moves fit together.
Shop Ads: Bridging the Gap Between Users and Merchants
TikTok’s new Shop Ads are designed to expand a merchant’s reach on the platform.
The product card ad format is now available in the app’s Shop tab, previously available only in the For You page.
TikTok says three in four users are likely to buy from a brand they’ve seen on TikTok Shop.
“At the end of the day…we want to empower (merchants) at the same scenario and empower their business not necessarily only as a media partner,” Cao says.
Empowering Commerce with Video Shopping Ads
TikTok is integrating with a range of third-party ecommerce partners to make integrations that allow merchants to more easily place Video Shopping Ads, fromdirectly within the TikTok app itself.
The company claims a 2X increase in CTR and 292% CTA ROAS lift for Retargeting.
“It’s a video format ads in our in-app environment to really help advertisers surfacing…with a shopping cart below between click through,” Cao explains, emphasizing the potential for brands of all sizes to benefit from this move.”
Prioritizing User Experience in Advertising
There is a delicate balance between monetization and user experience. Cao says that user engagement remains a priority.
“We always put our user experience in the first place,” he says, highlighting the importance of ensuring that ads do not disrupt the TikTok experience.
Cao says providing ad buyers, too, with transparency is key, promising the delivery of industry-standard metrics alongside tools to measure incrementality. Looking ahead, he envisions partnership with third-party platforms to provide omnichannel measurements.
