TikTok Works: How entertainment on TikTok improves efficiency for brands

About TikTok Works

TikTok is a global entertainment platform that enables brands to meaningfully connect with people at scale. Working with global research and measurement partners, it is proven that TikTok delivers measurable business impact across the user funnel. TikTok Works is a program launched to inspire advertisers on the full-funnel impact that TikTok can drive for your business. We are a committed partner to advertisers - helping brands make smarter advertising decisions through a suite of measurement solutions and team of experts.

How can marketers engage distracted audiences?

At TikTok, we work with trusted partners to demonstrate that our platform delivers incremental value for each media dollar spent. In this blog post we'll take a look at how TikTok impacts a mobile-first region like APAC, improving efficiency through an entertainment-first approach.

To do that, we'll mainly be looking at findings from a recent meta study conducted by Adjust, a mobile marketing analytics platform. Adjust's solutions for measuring and optimizing campaigns help marketers make the data-driven decisions needed to grow their mobile apps.

Before we dive into the details, let's consider some of the key challenges that marketers are facing today. According to Boston Consulting Group's recent Future of Commerce study, three obstacles are top of mind for marketers currently:

• Economic volatility and uncertainty

• Changes to privacy and ad tracking

• Connecting with a digital but distracted audience

Based on the above stats, it seems we've reached a saturation point for online advertising. This is creating major additional challenges for marketers seeking to encourage greater audience engagement, all while consumer appetites are continually changing.

The good news is that today's consumers are actively seeking out new types of entertainment, which creates an opening for marketers who are willing to experiment and test out new campaign styles. Read on to see how TikTok improves efficiency with an entertainment-first approach.

New entertainment opportunities on TikTok

Short-form videos on TikTok have changed online entertainment, creating entirely new opportunities for audience engagement that drives meaningful business impact. In fact, people are over 20% more likely to say that TikTok is more entertaining than entertainment and social brands.¹

The key factor in that success? Our ecosystem of entertainment drives action. As seen in the earlier research from BCG, Shoppertainment is a fast-growing US$1 trillion opportunity in APAC. By blending informative content with genuinely entertaining experiences, Shoppertainment appeals to today's digital-native consumers. That's because the modern online audience increasingly expects authentic and emotional brand content driven by experiential engagement.

On TikTok, we define Shoppertainment as content-driven commerce that prioritizes entertainment and education. At the same time, the model integrates content and community to create highly immersive shopping experiences. Thanks to its enticing mix of informative, fun, and fan-backed entertainment, Shoppertainment on TikTok creates an opportunity for brands to retain loyal consumers, increasing lifetime value (LTV) and return on investment (ROI).

Is this entertainment-first approach effective?

As mentioned above, this blog post is focused on how TikTok drives efficiency for marketers in APAC, a mobile-first region. So when considering APAC's consumers, is TikTok's entertainment-first, commerce-second approach effective? How does it compare with other platforms?

Below, we take a look at several claims the team at TikTok have made about our platform. Let's dive into the insights from Adjust to find out if those statements hold up.

Key Finding #1: Acquiring new customers with TikTok's entertainment model is more cost-effective

Across all verticals, TikTok drives an average of 60% lower Cost per Install compared to other media sources:

What sets TikTok apart is our platform gives brands the opportunity to engage their target audience with entertainment-first content across emotional touchpoints. That's why we recommend brands focus on a video-first strategy. By telling stories and educating their audience in the process, short-form video helps brands stay authentic and avoid the hard sell approach.

Key Finding #2 - TikTok helps brands reach audiences who are more likely to be paying users

Entertained and engaged users are more likely to turn into paying users. As opposed to the traditional marketing funnel, TikTok is home to an ecosystem of users who discover, experience, and purchase again and again. This infinite loop helps brands drive higher sales and improve their ROI.

In the e-commerce vertical, TikTok generates on average a 79% higher paying user rate compared to other media sources, and TikTok's in-app revenue from these paying users is 26% higher than other media sources.

In Southeast Asia (SEA) specifically, we see a 40% higher paying user rate among users who install e-commerce apps via TikTok, compared to those who install via other media sources.

Pro-Tip: Take this to another level by leveraging TikTok's Value-Based Optimization solution.

TikTok's Value-Based Optimization solution is the optimal balance of quantity and quality. Value-Based Optimization not only hunts for people who are more likely to make a purchase, but also those more likely to spend more money per purchase. That's on top of optimizing toward deep-funnel conversions in the same way a normal conversion campaign optimizes toward purchases or complete payments. This is achieved by targeting ad content at users who are more likely to buy multiple products at one time or to buy products with higher price points.

💡 How Zalora Philippines made it work for them

A major fashion e-commerce site in SEA, Zalora wanted to improve the return on ad spend (ROAS) of its Dynamic Showcase Ad campaigns running in the Philippines. The fashion site integrated Value-Based Optimization into their existing campaign strategy and compared the results with the previous campaigns. By retargeting users and optimizing for higher value purchases, Zalora achieved a 10% uplift in value per purchase while still controlling cost per purchase. That's in addition to more than doubling the brand's ROAS, nearly doubling its total purchase value, and reducing cost per action by 43%.

Key Finding #3 - TikTok improves ROI for app developers with in-app advertising

In addition to in-app purchases, brands and developers also rely on in-app advertising as a crucial source of revenue. This involves marketers reaching out to their engaged user base to promote products and services that are similar to ones they've purchased before.

Games

In ANZ and JP, users who installed game apps through TikTok ads generated 43% and 24% higher ad revenue per mille respectively compared to those who installed from other media sources.

Entertainment

In SEA, there are 67% higher paying user rates from users who installed Entertainment apps from TikTok compared to those who installed from other media sources.

On top of that, the ad revenue per mille generated from users who installed Entertainment apps from TikTok ads was 50% higher than those users who installed from other media sources.

Key Finding #4 - TikTok provides efficient ad solutions for privacy-first advertising

The App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy framework was introduced for all Apple devices after the release of iOS 14 (and enforced after iOS 14.5) to enhance the protection of user privacy. ATT has narrowed the offsite signals that the ads system can get (in-app events and purchase value, etc) which may impact ad delivery and campaign optimization. It may lead to unstable performance and longer learning periods on TikTok campaigns.

Despite this change, TikTok solutions are still able to adapt and lead amongst ad platforms in terms of performance. The TikTok algorithm is able to find relevant users who don't just install the app but also retain the app over a longer period of time.

One of TikTok's related solutions is the App Profile Page. This native instant page gathers promoted apps' information automatically and adds a CTA download button on the page. Onsite signals (e.g. CTA button clicks) with high intention will be used to improve the delivery model and optimize iOS Dedicated Campaign install performance. Beyond installs, advertisers can leverage App Event Optimization (AEO) for iOS 14 Dedicated Campaigns to drive more cost-efficient conversions.

💡 Learn from Tapas Media KR Case Study

Tapas Media is one of the fastest-growing global webcomics platforms, with audiences globally. The brand created an iOS 14 Dedicated Campaign with AEO, optimizing towards purchases of its in-app digital currency, which are used to unlock webtoon episodes. The AEO campaign showed significant improvements over the iOS app install campaign. There were more in-app purchases, with a lower cost per purchase. Additionally, the Purchase ROAS exceeded client expectations.

• 3.3x In-App Purchase Volume*

• -59.3% Lower Cost Per In-App Purchase*

• 5x In-App Purchase ROAS*

*Compared with existing iOS campaigns optimizing towards app installs.

Pro-Tip: Leverage Adjust's LinkMe for privacy-centric deferred deep linking on iOS. Adjust’s LinkMe solution offers marketers a handy tool for supporting deferred deep linking on iOS 14.5+. In instances where a user chooses to use Apple’s Private Relay feature, you can be confident that Adjust’s privacy-centric solution offers a smooth deep linking experience and your attribution insights remain untouched.

Entertainment on TikTok works for brands

TikTok is an entertainment-first platform. It's where content and community come together to create immersive shopping experiences that engage and entertain audiences, driving lower-funnel actions and meaningful business impact. Seize this all-new opportunity and develop a winning TikTok-first strategy that meets your audience base where they already spend much of their time.

This blog post is just a taster. You can read more about TikTok's Shoppertainment model here.

And remember, TikTok remains a committed partner to your business. We help brands make smarter advertising decisions through a suite of measurement solutions and our team of experts. Reach out to your TikTok measurement partner today to build learning agendas and start testing!

Sources

1. TikTok Marketing Science Global Entertainment Study 2021 conducted by Material