By now, it may have already occurred to you that TikTok is very popular. The platform is so trendy that even the most trivial of content is highly engaging and has the potential to achieve extreme virality. One of TikTok’s most distinguished strong points, which happens to be the creation and sharing of highly personalized content, is a direct tangent to today’s news which is all about TikTok’s newest research regarding how users respond to ads on the platform.
A shift in marketing practice has led to higher patronage of digital (online) advertising. In summary, advertising through the use of social media has been found to be able to nurture more leads while simultaneously being able to increase reach and accessibility at lower costs. When it comes to connecting with a target audience, digital ads have also been found to be more successful since it’s possible for business owners to actually place relevant content within an ad to facilitate better engagement.
The reason why we brought that up was so that we could better emphasize the point that video ads and TikTok videos have one thing very much in common, and that is that they have something to do with either very personalized or hyper-targeted content. It’s all about getting the right stuff to the right people.
On that note, would ads even work on the platform? Is it something that’s even practical to have given the fact that you can simply swipe to skip over an ad as you would a normal TikTok video? Well, that’s what this research hopes to give an answer to. Let’s dive in.
The Research
For this study, TikTok decided to partner with neuromarketing research firm MediaScience in an attempt to gauge user-responsiveness over competing platforms. A quick disclaimer on their side:
“Though this is a lab-controlled test, based on the description, it does seem to largely replicate the regular in-app experience.”
In the most basic sense, it was an experiment that had researchers watch people watch stuff while trying to measure the level of engagement.
The Methodology
To acquire their data, TikTok had the participants scroll at their desired pace on either TikTok or one of its competitor platforms. Each experience included eight test ads, and no restrictions were set so participants were free to skip as they saw fit.
MediaScience then made use of various monitoring tools, such as eye-tracking and heart monitoring, to measure qualitative responses and to gain more insight into the resonance and effectiveness of TikTok promotions.
The Results
After diligent observation and testing, here are the results:
TikTok ads have dominant brand recall traits, even for limited view times (less than 6s).
15% for 6s or less.
29% between 6 – 20s.
40% for 20s or more.
TikTok takes less time to make an impact compared to other/similar platforms.
Promotions on TikTok are, in general, better received and deliver more positive brand perception.
Those involved in the research attribute the results partly to how TikTok was designed to deliver content. Since users often engage with content broadly, shorter but more detailed clips would require greater attention in order to efficiently contextualize. Repeated behavior can thus lead to TikTok users being able to recall more despite lower exposure periods.
The Wrap
In a nutshell, the research has found that TikTok promotions are indeed effective in relation to how the platform operates and interacts with its users. Though specific ad content will have somewhat of an impact, ads that are more attuned with organic TikTok content and those that are less disruptive are likely to enjoy positive responses.
What you need to know: TikTok is (currently) more open to promotional content compared to other platforms. It stands as a viable digital marketing channel and will benefit you greatly if incorporated into your marketing strategy.
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