- Business Insider Intelligence and eMarketer have joined forces to become the leading research company focused on digital transformation. As we come together, you can expect to see more content from eMarketer.
- That's why we're giving you a preview of one of eMarketer's most popular reports: Marketing on TikTok.
- You can purchase and download the full report here.
TikTok is the next frontier in social media not just for influencers, but for marketers and advertisers, as well.
The social media app, launched under the name Musical.ly in 2014, has been gaining a dedicated user base, particularly among Gen Z. Chinese media and tech company ByteDance then acquired the app in November 2017 for a reported $1 billion and merged it with a peer app it already owned, called TikTok.
But what is TikTok? Simply put, it's a video app where users create vertical videos that typically run 15 seconds before looping to restart. They can also connect clips together to create videos up to 60 seconds long. Videos incorporate music samples, filters, quick cuts, stickers and other creative add-ons that allow users to make the most of the short length.
And so far, the platform has seen incredible growth. TikTok and its Chinese version Douyin have 800 million monthly active users (MAUs) according to a TikTok internal marketing document published by Ad Age in October 2019. For context, this places them just behind Instagram's 1 billion global MAUs, (a figure the company last updated in June 2018).
Usage is also growing amongst US teens, the social media platform's key demographic. In a September 2019 survey by YouGov, 2% of US teens ages 13-17 said TikTok was the social media platform they use most often.
This growth should only accelerate in 2020, which means the platform is ripe for brands to leverage. TikTok marketing to this point has generated significant returns for advertisers and marketers, due largely to a first-mover advantage. But there's plenty of room in the space.
We've identified three trends that will shape TikTok marketing and advertising in 2020.
1. Video Advertisers Will Funnel More Dollars into Social
eMarketer estimates US marketers will have spent $34.57 billion on digital video advertising in 2019, a 27.1% increase from 2018, and social properties are taking a growing share. Furthermore, brands are becoming more comfortable with shooting video ads specifically for mobile social environments. Chocolate-maker Godiva, for example, has been investing in video creative that is square or vertical and shorter in length, to reach consumers in their 20s and 30s, younger than Godiva's traditional target audience.
Short-form video is also surging in popularity. In China, where short videos have had a few years' head start, the format is taking a growing share of time spent on entertainment-based mobile apps. In Q2 2019, 38.5% of daily time spent by users of the Jiguang (Aurora Mobile) network was on such content. It has taken share away from video-on-demand and over-the-top video, as well as gaming and music.
And TikTok's massive engagement numbers, with view counts often numbering in the millions, highlights why the social platform is appealing to marketers. For example, MAC Cosmetics worked with three TikTok influencers in September 2019 for a hashtag challenge ad campaign called #YouOwnIt. Over the six-day campaign, a total of 635,000 videos were created, with an approximate total of 1.6 billion video views.
2. Creators Will Pull Back on YouTube in Favor of Social and Live Streaming Platforms
Gen Z is an increasingly lucrative market segment, and the way this cohort communicates with one another is changing the way brands are engaging with consumers. From hashtag challenges to brand takeovers, advertisers are utilizing TikTok's unique ad formats.
Young people are adept at using digital tools for self-expression, and TikTok is one of several apps that give them a canvas to be creative. TikTok inspires users to not only watch, like, and comment on videos but also create them – giving brands an entirely new approach to getting their products seen through user generated content.
Advertisers that use YouTube typically publish videos between 3 and 5 minutes, or 8 and 11 minutes. This largely contrasts to TikTok's 15 to 60 second video clips. The brevity of a TikTok video forces brands to capture consumer attention within the first few seconds.
Present-day audiences, specifically Gen Zers, want to consume content as quickly as possible, and TikTok allows brands to show their product without over-saturating or exhausting their content – like they might on other platforms like YouTube.
3. Tik Tok's Popularity Will Be Tested by a Stream of New Competitors
More and more people and brands are talking about TikTok, but awareness doesn't necessarily translate to usage. Because it's so easy to view TikTok videos on other social media properties such as Twitter and Facebook, some users say they don't need to open the app to feel like they are "using" it.
According to a January 2019 study by Business Insider, among Gen Z internet users ages 13 to 21, only 11% said they checked TikTok daily – putting it well below Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and Facebook.
To avoid ending up in the shadows like Vine, TikTok will be forced to continue evolving to remain relevant. Like TikTok, Vine saw high user engagement when it first launched, but as the "newness" wore off, Vine struggled to remain competitive in the social platform market.
To better understand how brands and advertisers are utilizing this quickly growing platform, eMarketer put together the Marketing on TikTok report. The report discusses the growth of TikTok around the world and what marketers should know about the Chinese-owned short-video app.
Interested in learning more? Here are two options:
