On the evening of January 18th, 2025, TikTok’s ban unexpectedly went into effect across the U.S., leaving users who tried to access the app with pop-up messages saying they no longer had access due to the government’s decision to ban the app. But, just as suddenly as it vanished, TikTok came back from the dead! By as late as mid-day on January 19, when the ban was supposed to be implemented, President Trump issued an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension, allowing the app to restore service within hours.
Friday, January 17th, with the looming ban in sight, many advertisers (ourselves included) put an end to their TikTok campaigns, not wanting to waste ad dollars on a platform that no longer exists within their target market. We expected an influx of ad dollars to shift to Meta, Youtube, and other platforms, causing an adverse reaction to our current campaigns, rising CPM’s and CPL’s or lowering CTR’s with the influx of competition added to the platforms.
But since the ban technically never went into full effect, the big question now is:
Are advertisers still moving their money?
The state of TikTok is still uncertain, and the likelihood that it’ll exist in the way it once did for advertisers in the U.S. feels pretty limited. With no clear resolution in place once the 75-day extension runs out, brands are left to decide: keep their original budgets on TikTok while they still can, potentially capitalizing on the promise they once saw in TikTok before it actually disappears? Or are we seeing ad dollars move elsewhere like anticipated?
For our current campaigns, the expected spikes and dips we anticipated haven’t really happened. Any fluctuations we have seen in campaign performance lack a consistent pattern, making it hard to justify anything directly to the TikTok situation.
When digging deeper into the State of Media within the industry, we haven’t seen a clear consensus either. Advertisers seem to be cautiously waiting in hopes for even the smallest update to inform their next moves.
From our standpoint, we can only assume that advertisers are trying to suck the last bit of awareness or conversions they can from TikTok before it truly (potentially) goes away. And we don’t blame them! This whole situation is unprecedented, and we are just as eager as everyone else to get an update and see what happens next.
Wondering how all this got started? Check out our State of TikTok 2024: Impending Ban
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