TikTok: Center of the internet's attention
In today's media landscape, one resource dominates in its value and its scarcity: Attention.
In the past, audience attention was predictable, with scheduled television programs making it easy for advertisers to gauge prime times to capture consumers' focus. Now, technological advances have made heaps of information available at any time and in any part of the world, and keeping up with consumers' always-on digital presence presents a daunting challenge.
The solution is on TikTok, as the new era of entertainment that's flourishing on our platform captivates consumers' undivided attention.
Our users are uniquely plugged into the TikTok experience, with 46% engaging with content on TikTok without distractions or multi-screening.¹ The platform offers up endless discovery of new voices and ideas, a diverse community that embraces vulnerability, and a highly-inclusive culture of influence that is causing users to spend less time on other platforms. With entertainment, connection, and education working together, TikTok is capturing audiences' attention and driving business in a way that is unparalleled across the industry, with 35% of users saying they spend less time watching TV or video content since joining TikTok.¹
Drawing attention—the TikTok way
Storytelling sparks unparalleled engagement
When our users are on TikTok, they're doing so much more than just scrolling through the app; they're acting on what they see. Based on research conducted in partnership with Neuro-Insight, our community is more frequently and more consistently engaging with content on TikTok than they are on other platforms,² and they're showing up differently.
"TikTok has partnered with Neuro-Insight to build on a growing body of work that sheds light on the quality of impact," said Pranav Yadav, CEO and Founder of Neuro-Insight US. "Helping understand our unique neuro-signature of TikTok, this work is helping TikTok and their brand clients decode the nuances of what makes a good TikTok ad."
What makes engagement on our platform unique is the authenticity and realness of every day people who are empowered to create on TikTok. With more than one billion users watching a movie's worth of content on our platform, they aren't just opening up the app to "check in" on their FYP— they're tuning in.
To keep them tuned in and to secure their undivided attention, taking advantage of TikTok's storytelling tools is essential. Creative triggers such as text overlay, music, brand exposure, and scene changes signal to our users that a critical story element is being introduced, and brands that incorporate these triggers into their content experience higher ad memorability than they do on other platforms.³
"Thorough expertise around how different platforms interact and deep understanding around how best to use each platform is key to creating a successful brand today. Long-term memory has been previously correlated to offline sales, and this work helps brands maximize impact along this key metric. We also teased out the optimal 'density of information' that brands need to create maximum quality of impact. These studies provide a strong foundation for brands on TikTok to understand Ad Memorability and actionability, not just Attention," said Yadav.
Connection on TikTok inspires actionable interest
By capturing their attention via storytelling, brands are simultaneously forming connections with the TikTok audience—connections that drive stronger brand affinity, brand memory, and brand equity. This uptick in brand building activity proves that ads on TikTok do more than just capture attention—they garner sustained, business-driving interest.
On other platforms, simply seeing an ad doesn't drive top-of-mind familiarity for brands—it's an interruption of users' experience. What sets our platform apart is how remarkably engaging it is. In partnership with Nielsen, we found that users describe ads on TikTok as fun, unique, authentic, and genuine—a special medley of qualities proven to elevate your audience's interest.⁵
The interactive and positive nature of TikTok is what turns ads into brand building opportunities. Looking to boost purchase intent and brand recall? Calling visual attention to creative elements in TikTok ads is the key to driving interest in your brand, product, and story.
Advertising is primed to perform on TikTok
Both by itself and when coupled with other platforms, ad performance on TikTok is bolstered by preceding content. Just on our platform, there is a 27% increase in aided brand recall when users see brands' organic TikTok content before their paid ads, based on a study conducted in partnership with Neurons.⁶ This spark in attention can be partly attributed to how seamlessly paid ads fit into the platform, with users saying that after just two exposures, paid ads create less of an interference with their TikTok experience.⁶
Across platforms, the same effects exist. When audiences see ads both on TikTok and traditional TV, they become more in-tune with the ad's details, overall story, and their own personal connection to it.⁷ As a result, they pay more attention to branding moments, find ads more likeable and relevant, and experience more positive brand perception.⁸
Creativity's impact on attention
One of TikTok's most stand-out advantages is the superior quality of content, so it only makes sense that creative decisions directly impact and drive our users' attention. In partnership with Lumen, we found the specific creative assets that drive brand recall and in-the-moment viewership.
When locking in immediate attention while our audience is immersed in the TikTok experience, blending seamlessly into the platform's culture of authenticity and community-driven entertainment leads to longer view times. Showing real people, tapping into TikTok's expansive myriad of trends, and crafting a story puts a pause on scrolling and keeps the audience plugged in.
However, while more time spent watching ads is often linked with more successful brand impact, a study conducted in partnership with MediaScience found that ads on TikTok viewed for less than six seconds still produce a disproportionately strong impact (when compared to the impact of ads viewed for 20 seconds or more).¹⁰
When it comes to sustaining ad attention past exposure, awareness is elevated by visual elements that tie directly to brands or to products, with TikTok ads showing a brand's logo, a clickable call-to-action, and the products themselves experiencing increased brand recall.
We have your attention, now it's your turn
We've laid it all out: Engagement, brand building, familiarity built by priming, and creativity are the key ingredients to capturing audiences' undivided attention on TikTok, and we want to welcome brands into our ever-growing spotlight.
Activate your brand's TikTok Business Account today to get started on creating content that locks viewers into your story and drives powerful results.
Sources:
TikTok Marketing Science Global Time Well Spent 2021 conducted by Kantar
Neuro-Insight "TikTok: Successfully Advertise on the World's Hottest Content Platform", US, 2021, https://www.tiktok.com/business/library/TikTokDrivesGreaterAudienceEngagement.pdf
TikTok Marketing Science Global Information Density Study 2021 conducted by Neuro-Insight
TikTok Marketing Science Global Ad Attention & Brand Building Study 2021 conducted by Neurons Inc.
TikTok Marketing Science Global Authenticity Study conducted by Nielsen (US n=1034, June 2020 & Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, South Korea, n=1000/each market, June 2021)
TikTok Marketing Science Global Organic + Paid Study 2021 conducted by Neurons Inc.
TikTok Marketing Science UK Impact of Priming 2021 conducted by Neuro-Insights
TikTok Marketing Science Global Cross Platform Study 2021 conducted by Neurons Inc.
TikTok Marketing Science US SMB Creative Effectiveness 2022 conducted by Lumen
TikTok Marketing Science US Value Of A View 2021 conducted by MediaScience