According to the Wall Street Journal, TikTok plans to launch an advertising product, Pulse Premiere, an extension of Pulse that will allow publishers like Condé Nast, Buzzfeed, and NBC to monetize advertising on their content. . The new product is part of TikTok's efforts to make its platform more attractive to publishers despite the looming risk of a ban in the United States.
Appropriate point: According to our forecasts, TikTok's ad revenue is expected to reach $6.19 billion this year. Even a portion of that revenue could be important as publishers face layoffs and closures. As names like NPR and PBS migrate away from Twitter, TikTok wants its platform to be seen not just as a safe option, but one that can be monetized.
Why advertisers should be careful: Pulse Premiere is a new way to advertise on TikTok by giving advertisers a spot alongside trusted sources. This new product is likely to be more brand-safe than his standard TikTok ad, and opens up a whole new audience for both TikTok and advertisers: older, traditional media consumers.
Unleash the potential of TikTok: The platform leverages its own feeds and introduced a STEM feed in March. Next up could be publisher-specific feeds. Becoming a hub for reputable publishers could boost TikTok's less than stellar political reputation in the United States.
Collaborating with publishers that produce TV content can also be part of your journey towards connected TV (CTV). TikTok aims to bring short-form videos to television in a bid to compete with YouTube and capture a slice of the US's CTV advertising market, which will reach $25.09 billion this year.
Reasons why it doesn't work: TikTok isn't necessarily a controversial platform.
- The likelihood of a ban remains high in Washington, potentially making the investments publishers, advertisers and brands invest in the platform in vain.
- The platform has faced allegations of censorship, including a “sensitive language” tool that restricts conversations on topics publishers are likely to post about, including China, President Trump and the Uyghur people.
- TikTok's payments to individual creators are exceptionally low, with a minimum of less than $5, which may make it unattractive to publishers. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, Pulse Premier will share 50% of the revenue with publishers.
- There's nothing stopping individual creators from posting similar content on TikTok. This means a publisher's video clips about a Story can get fewer views than a creator's clip commenting on that Story, eating up ad revenue.
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