Written by Katie Paul
NEW YORK — Advertisers who rely on TikTok as a key digital marketing tool scrambled to prepare contingency plans this week, as many realized the popular Chinese-owned social media app might not be saved before the U.S. ban takes effect Sunday.
One marketing executive described it as a “hair on fire” moment for the advertising world, following months of conventional wisdom that a solution would materialize to keep the short-form video app running.
“It seemed unbelievable even just a few weeks ago to imagine that there would be no TikTok,” said Kerry Pierce, founder of marketing firm Influence & Inspire Consulting and former head of social media at Omnicom Group (NYSE:). OMD Media Agency.
“We all thought that any issues with access to TikTok would be slow and long-lasting,” she said.
Chinese technology company ByteDance faces a January 19 deadline to sell TikTok's US assets or accept an unprecedented ban of the app, used by 170 million Americans, on national security grounds.
TikTok plans to shut down the app's U.S. operations on Sunday except for a last-minute reprieve, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
US President-elect Donald Trump's new national security adviser said the new administration plans to put measures in place “to prevent TikTok from going dark,” but it was not immediately clear whether Trump – who takes office on Monday – could do so legally. .
“I think after a long period of feeling like this was a 'boy who cried wolf' situation, we may actually be seeing a wolf sighting,” said Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3.
If the ban occurs, more than $11 billion in annual advertising investments in the United States would be up for grabs, according to projections from marketing group WARC Media.
Most of that spending is likely to shift to platforms where advertisers have already set up and are running short-video ad campaigns, primarily Meta's YouTube Shorts and Alphabet (NASDAQ:)'s YouTube Shorts, four ad agency sources told Reuters.
TikTok employees appeared to not know exactly what would happen to the app as of Sunday, the sources said, though two of the sources noted that TikTok was offering favorable refund terms in the event services were halted amid advertiser campaigns. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Even as the ban approached, the company continued to push advertisers for new features, such as a tool launched in test form on Thursday that would make it easier to create, edit and add ads in bulk, according to an email from this week described to Reuters. .
It also plans to host a booth at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, next week, after holding cocktail parties at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Meanwhile, brands and content creators alike have been downloading their data en masse while the app is inaccessible as of Sunday, hoping to salvage at least some of the fruits of their labor.
An influencer, who promotes cereal and beauty products in her videos, posted on Tuesday advising her nearly 16,000 followers on how to save their videos.
“Here's how to download your TikTok data so you don't lose everything you've had for the past five years,” Maria Slate said, grimacing as the words “It's OK, I'm fine” appeared above her head.
The sentiment was a marked change from the mood last month, when advertisers told Reuters they were in no rush to shift their marketing budgets from TikTok despite a US appeals court upholding the law requiring divestment or ban.
As of January 8, ad spending on TikTok is set to increase by 57% in the first two months of 2025, according to Guideline.ai, a research firm that tracks advance booking data from major ad agencies.
TikTok has become a powerful tool for advertisers looking to reach young Americans in particular in recent years, rising to 20% of US social media ad spending from just 2% in 2020, its first full year of operation in the US. United, Guideline.ai. He said.
Part of that strength has come from the platform's cultivation of influencers and online shopping culture, which has made it a reliable driver of e-commerce sales.
E-Marketer, another research firm, predicted late last year that about 43.8% of TikTok users in the United States would have made a purchase on the platform by the end of 2024, a higher share than Meta-owned services Facebook (NASDAQ:) and Instagram. . .
