The Creator Advantage: How creators drive real brand impact on TikTok

Today, brand marketing feels more competitive than ever. Every advertiser is competing for the same few seconds of attention from viewers, who have a million options for what to watch. In an industry obsessed with ROI and scale, it's difficult to break through, tell a compelling brand story, and measure the success of an ad.

But for brand marketers on TikTok, creators can change that equation. They're skilled at ideating, shooting, and editing TikTok ads that audiences will like, and their content consistently outperforms non-creator ads.

We analyzed TikTok campaign data for brand marketers and found that creator-led content yields stronger outcomes at the same cost per thousand impressions (CPM). According to our analysis, creator ads drive a 70% higher click-through rate and 159% higher engagement rate than non-creator ads for the same CPM.¹

Creator marketing has grown from an experiment into a core brand strategy, and TikTok has become the proving ground. In the sections ahead, we break down why creator content performs, how to activate it effectively, and the TikTok tools that make it scalable.

Why creator content performs

At their core, creators bring three key advantages to a brand marketing campaign on TikTok:

They are cultural translators

When creators tell a brand's story, they do it through the lens of TikTok culture and how that brand naturally fits into community conversations. Think of a CPG product launch. A #CleanBeauty creator might spotlight a soap's ingredients, while one from the eco-conscious lifestyle space could focus on refillable packaging or sustainability. These are insights that could take internal teams months to uncover, but for creators, they come instinctively.

They can make a lot of (good) content, quickly

Creators concept, produce, and publish their own work, which means they can deliver a high volume of content at speed. And when brands scale through creators, they also scale quality. By distributing creative responsibility across multiple unique voices, marketers increase the likelihood of receiving quality content that reflects the diverse range of real perspectives on TikTok.

They lend brands their halo effect

Audiences are more likely to trust and engage with messages from creators they already follow, so content performs better when it's posted to a creator's account, not an advertiser's account. According to a study, ads posted to a creator's account have a 59% higher engagement rate and a 16% higher six-second view-through rate than those that aren't.²

A balanced activation strategy

Creator content is dynamic by nature, but like any creative format, it works best with structure. For brand marketers on TikTok, what's worked is a balance of both buzzy campaign moments and always-on storytelling.

• Buzzy campaign moments drive attention and help brands introduce new products, enter new markets, or make a statement during cultural or seasonal events. This is the time to deploy new messages, reinforce the most important ones, and make a statement about a brand.

• Always-on storytelling sustains presence between launches. Iterate on launch messaging, target incremental audiences, and maintain strong brand perception with a steady supply of content from TikTok creators.

Both are essential because attention alone doesn't build equity. Buzzy moments create excitement, but always-on storytelling turns that interest into recognition and trust. And creators make both possible. They give campaign bursts cultural credibility and bring long-term consistency without creative fatigue.

Collaboration on TikTok One

There are many ways to work with creators on TikTok, and they all start on TikTok One. It connects marketers with creators (on Creator Marketplace) and agencies (on Partner Exchange) who have a track record of delivering high-performing creator content.³

Creator Marketplace

TikTok One's Creator Marketplace is the official platform for brand-creator collaborations, providing options for one-on-one partnerships and scaled activations. With Creator Marketplace, advertisers can:

• Get quality, insights-driven creator matches based on audience and content performance.

• Make content actionable and measurable with anchor links.

• Track results with unified organic and paid reporting to gain a comprehensive view of campaign success.

And with APIs, marketers can access the benefits of Creator Marketplace within their existing workflows, so they don't have to change the way they work.

Felix Pago, an international payment app that helps people send money to Latin America, wanted to reach Spanish-speaking audiences more effectively on TikTok. Using TikTok One's Creator Marketplace, the advertiser partnered with diverse creators to produce over 35 Spanish-language ads, resulting in a 2.7 times increase in daily creative output.³

Felix Pago's TikTok One campaign drove stronger engagement, more conversions, and did so more efficiently than their typical creatives, including 38% higher conversions, 26% higher click-through rate, and 23% more efficient cost per acquisition, compared to their typical creatives.⁴

Partner Exchange

Partner Exchange on TikTok One connects marketers with vetted creative agencies that specialize in making TikTok content, including creator-led ads. Through the tool, marketers can oversee every step of the creative production process in one place, including:

• Sourcing and contracting creative partners

• Creator briefing and communication

• Content delivery and campaign launch

• Performance tracking and optimization

Through partnerships with these award-winning agencies, advertisers can scale their creator content output without straining their existing resources.

Hyundai, a global automotive brand, aimed to showcase genuine customer stories through its #ItsYourJourney campaign on TikTok.³ Through Partner Exchange, the brand partnered with #paid, a creator marketplace, to generate a scaled campaign driven by quality creators who are existing Hyundai owners, like creator Keith Lee.

The campaign generated 53.5 million impressions, 2.8 million engagements, and an 80% higher click-through rate compared to industry benchmarks.⁵

The takeaway

The most meaningful marketing on TikTok starts with people who understand it best, and that's creators. Whether advertisers are collaborating directly with creators or working through trusted agency partners, TikTok One provides them with the insight, infrastructure, and creative support to create content that stands out in a crowded attention landscape.

Register for TikTok One today and discover how easy it is to plan, create, and scale with creators who already know how to make people watch.

Notes:

1. TikTok Internal analysis of 3P creator content posted 2.2024-1.2025

2. Creative Experts Center internal analysis: Organic Creator Content Standard x Branded Content, Brand Ads (Spark, non-Spark), Brand Lift Studies, previous 6 months-1 year (2024-2025)

3. These TikTok case studies are solely for informational purposes. Past performance does not guarantee or predict future performance. All claims related to brand products including, without limitation, the effectiveness, sales, or quality of such products are brand-reported and not endorsed or verified by TikTok.

4. Felix Pago 2025 TikTok campaign

5. Hyundai 2023 TikTok campaign