TikTok Works: Driving Full-Funnel Impact with the Power of Digital

TikTok teamed up with Industry Experts exploring the impact of multi-screen marketing synergies

While advertisers continue to work towards optimizing marketing efforts to achieve maximum ROIs, the conventional notion remains that digital drives short-term results and TV still drives long-term KPIs.

But today the reality isn't about picking and choosing; it's about how each of these platforms is utilized in multi-screen planning to drive key objectives. Digital, in fact, has the power to drive both long-term brand building and short-term goals when the right efforts are put behind optimizing both content and context.

To dig deeper into this insight, TikTok teamed up with Kantar (CrossMedia) and Nielsen (Custom Sales lift ) to understand the cross-funnel impact that Television and digital platforms play in a multiscreen planning landscape.

With Kantar, 17 campaigns in KSA and UAE, covering 4.5BN impressions across 5 key verticals - CPG, Retail Tech were evaluated to understand long-term brand building. Nielsen included 4 CPG categories, 60 weeks of evaluation for 6 Sales lift studies.

Let's take a look at some of the finer details of their findings and understand the pillars that solidify your media planning in an effort to maximize brand impact, sales and return on investment (ROI).

1. In MENA, TV Dominates but Digital is a close second

While linear TV dominates the highest reach at 75%, TikTok drives the most efficient reach leading as a close second. TikTok despite being the latest entrant, impressively outperforms long-standing digital platforms to achieve high reach in the Middle east. It's clear to see that the Middle East is a multi-screen market with no singular format driving substantial unique reach.

What this means is that all platforms have to work together, in synergy, to amplify campaign exposures and magnify impact.

*Reach is calculated based on the probability of media exposure via opportunity to see

To that end Digital coalesces impressively in the mix, to extend the high reach of TV, adding 19% incremental audiences not reached by TV alone. This is more pronounced among light TV viewers, where digital adds 27% incrementally, driven highest by short-form content platforms, like TikTok.

This essentially implies that short-form video content has the power to reach out to those who are viewing less TV or passively viewing, thus working as a great compliment to TV+ planning.

2. Planning for Reach? Without Measuring Impact it's a Failed Mission

'Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don't know which half', a famous quote that is more relevant today than it has ever been. While reach determines campaigns' exposures, that alone cannot dictate the campaign's success.

Kantar's study looked into the cross-platform role in driving impact on key brand health KPIs - Awareness, Imagery perceptions and Motivation (to purchase). It is seen that, on average, a typical cross-platform campaign in the Middle East delivers an average uplift of 4%, compared to global norms of 5.2%. This means that media in this region needs to work harder to drive impact on Brand KPIs.

The Kantar study also shows that while TV delivers the highest brand impact, it tends to be more expensive compared to platforms like TikTok , which is the 2nd most impactful platform after TV, but far more efficient.

TV in the region seems to be operating at higher frequencies compared to global averages, while digital is better planned, in line with global benchmarks.

Does this mean that there is still heavier reliance on TV, leading to wastages that could be better utilised to extend campaign reach via more efficient digital platforms?

The study with Kantar suggests that TikTok delivers 5X higher impact/exposure vs. TV, implying it creates stronger brand memory per exposure. This could be attributed to the leaned in viewing format and more engaging content.

TikTok compliments TV more than any other platform in impact

We've established that no one platform can drive unique reach. Rather it is the synergy between multiple platforms working that amplifies a campaign's impact. And while globally, 34% of campaign impact comes from those same synergies, it's much higher in the Middle East at 50%.

Since TV is still a dominant platform in MENA, it is the backbone of this mix - with other platforms working together with TV to drive multi-platform impact. And in times of limited or competitive marketing budgets what is then the ideal way of planning, in order to maintain investments but maximise ROIs?

The answer? A combination of 'TV, TikTok and long-form video platforms'.

3. The Bottom-Line; How Tiktok is Driving Sales

Although magic moments like Ramadan prime consumers to spend, macro factors continue to make them more prudent. So, brands need to work harder to maintain their standing and relevance in consumer households.

According to the Kantar Worldpanel Brand footprint 2022 Report, for every 1% of penetration, a brand needs 1.8M extra shoppers today than they did 10 years ago to stay at the same level.

So ultimately, the goal is to empower advertisers with deep insights into their campaigns' performance, so they can maximize the results from their media spending to drive sales.

Thus, TikTok commissioned independent studies with Nielsen to evaluate the role of TikTok in driving incremental sales for 6 of the top CPG advertisers in KSA.

TikTok has a significant impact on brand sales.

According to the study, all 6 campaigns tested on TikTok drove incremental impact on sales, quantifying to an incremental value of ~900k SAR in revenue.

5 of these 6 campaigns had a higher impact than Nielsen digital benchmarks in the region.

In addition to driving incremental sales, TikTok delivers the highest ROAS when compared to other digital platforms, according to the 2022 syndicated META analysis conducted with Nielsen, across key CPG advertisers in the region.

Succeeding with Multi-Screen Planning

1. Plan for higher reach

The sweet spot of Reach on TikTok is 50%-60%, below which the impact starts to drop, hence advertisers must leverage the high penetration of the platform in MENA and plan to maximise reach.

2. Campaign duration and frequencies

Plan for at least ~5 weeks of campaign activity on TikTok with a frequency of 7-9. Campaigns maintaining a longer presence on TikTok tend to deliver higher impact (5 weeks+ on TikTok drove 11% higher impact) and frequencies of 2+per week results in 60% higher contribution from TikTok.

3. Ad bundling

Leveraging multiple Ad formats to achieve different campaign objectives, can deliver a strong full-funnel performance. One of the widely known ways for brands to engage with consumers is through Hashtag challenges. It empowers users to become co-creators of your branded campaign, by inviting them to join in on a collective movement. This is a fun way for brands to collaborate with users and seamlessly integrate into the TikTok community. More than this, this also amplifies the brand and drives full-funnel impact.

According to the Kantar META analysis campaign which included 2+ formats on TikTok, saw 24% higher cross-funnel impact vs. Standard feed campaigns. Additionally, Nielsen's Sales lift study shows a jump of +38% in sales lift, for campaigns that included TikTok's multi-ad formats.

4. Go Native

The power of TikTok lies in its ability to keep users engaged through its immersive full-screen viewing. Marketers must lean into this advantage and put efforts behind staying native to the platform to truly leverage its potential. The use of both brand-led and creator-led content is seen to have a higher brand impact and incremental sales, compared to brand assets alone.

Nielsen's Sales lift study conducted for a hair care brand showed TikTok drove a 5.8% incremental uplift in sales, way higher than other digital benchmarks in the region that are between 1.5%-4%, primarily owing to the use of high-performing Creator-led assets that generated strong engagement

*Source: Kantar CrossMedia META analysis, 17 studies conducted in KSA and UAE, 2022 Nielsen (Custom) Market lift analysis, 6 studies in KSA, 2021-2022

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