Since January 2019, it has been possible to place adverts on TikTok – with a choice of formats and cost models.

A TikTok advertising campaign allows a wide range of brands to reach younger target groups. Over time, traditional measures are making it increasingly difficult to appeal to the younger generations.

What is TikTok?

TikTok is an app that offers the opportunity to share short videos with the community. The videos can be between 15 seconds and five minutes long. This content allows users to show off their lip-sync skills and share their interests, experiences and inspirations, among other things.

The mission of TikTok is “to record and share creativity, knowledge and important moments of everyday life” – says the Chinese company about the platform.

The importance of TikTok: constant growth rate of the Lip Sync app

Over the last few years, TikTok has become an important app in the entire media ecosystem.

The app currently has 500 million active users worldwide and is characterised by constant user growth. In the first quarter of 2019, TikTok gained 188 million new users and thus recorded a year-on-year growth rate of 70 %.

Germany at the forefront!

In a European TikTok comparison, Germany is the leader: the statistics show a figure of 5.5 million active users per month who spend an average of 50 minutes a day on TikTok.

TikTok users and target groups

One thing is clear: TikTok tends to have a young audience – 41% of users are between the ages of 16 and 24. TikTok is therefore the perfect app when it comes to getting in touch with the youngsters. Above all, this shows that TikTok probably understands the younger generation better than some competitor apps – teenagers are offered a lot here that is exactly in tune with the times and the generation.

Advertising on TikTok: the formats

The first ads appeared on TikTok in January 2019 and the app has tested several advertising formats in recent months.

A company can choose between different formats, including the following:

• Brand Takeover: The advert appears immediately when the app is opened – it can be a still image (3 seconds) or a GIF (3-5 seconds).
• In-Feed Native Video: The advert is displayed to users as a native video in the For You feed. Adverts are inserted natively between the normal content – as a 5 to 15 second full-screen video.
• Hashtag Challenge: The company shares a hashtag with its users and tries to get them to create new content through a creative approach. The Hashtag Challenge encourages TikTok users to customise the challenge with their own character.
• Branded Lenses: Putting a filter over your own face has been very popular with the young target group since Snapchat. Naturally, TikTok is making this its own. Thanks to Branded Lenses, users can radically change their face or even their surroundings, creating a whole new brand experience.

Why you should advertise as a company on TikTok

Advertising on TikTok gives companies the opportunity to win over young people and their commitment. Especially as traditional media only reach generations Y and Z to a limited extent.

Advertising costs on TikTok

As the advertising formats are still new and due to the high growth of the app, TikTok Campaigns may still be too expensive for small companies.

When running a campaign on TikTok, it is necessary to choose a cost model:

• Cost per view (CPV): advertisers only pay if the advert is viewed for at least six seconds
• Cost per impression (CPM): advertisers pay when the ads appear in a user’s TikTok feed
• Cost per click (CPC): advertisers pay when users click on the advert