TikTok gains traction among advertisers
2 min read . Updated: 25 May 2020, 10:59 PM ISTThe short video platform has seen a meteoric rise in its Indian user base, generating 611 million lifetime downloads so far
NEW DELHI : Short video platform TikTok is gradually attracting advertising money from brands, experts said. With a unique feature of high user-generated content (UGC) in form of challenges and do-it-yourself (DIY) content, TikTok is attracting consumer goods, smartphone and consumer durables brands, which seek to leverage its platform engagement, shareability and small town reach.
According to industry estimates, TikTok advertising revenue grew 50% in one year. However, it is yet to bag a significant share of India’s ₹17,000-crore digital ad market, which is dominated by Google and Facebook.
“It is inevitable that any new platform will eat into ad revenue of existing platforms (YouTube). This is not unique to TikTok. Instagram has become the primary platform for influencers, which once used to be Twitter. This is a cyclical process, which will continue to happen," said Kartik Nagarajan, chief content officer, Wavemaker India, a GroupM-owned media agency.
Bytedance-owned TikTok is bullish on India as it has witnessed meteoric rise in the user base, generating 611 million lifetime downloads so far, nearly a third of the app’s overall downloads (2 billion). It actively started pitching to advertisers with brands, such as Pepsi, Puma, Clean and Clear, Flipkart, Myntra and OLX, advertising on the app.
RB India-owned hygiene brand Dettol hosted a hand washing challenge on TikTok to fight the coronavirus outbreak in March. It garnered over 18 billion views.
“The participation by TikTok users across India has helped deliver the right message in a more engaging and interactive manner," said Pankaj Duhan, chief marketing officer, RB Health South Asia.
PepsiCo India also executed multiple TikTok campaigns such as Swag Step Challenge in 2019 that crossed 30 billion views.
“TikTok successfully allows brands to engage with audiences in an entertaining format. Multiple brands repeating collaboration with us is a testament to the power of short format videos," said Sachin Sharma, director of sales and partnerships, TikTok.
Most TikTok ad deals are bundled, including home screen ad, hashtag promotion and influencer outreach. However, it comes nowhere close to the premium Google-owned, 15-year-old streaming platform YouTube commands. According to industry estimates, TikTok for instance charges ₹40-50 lakh for a home screen ad as compared to YouTube’s home screen banner ad, which comes at a tag of ₹1.5 crore a day.
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