Several major stories about TikTok this week that I'll do my best to consolidate below…
1) Engaged Sessions – TikTok is testing a new advertising tool called Engaged Session to measure user behavior via pixels after they leave the app. This will allow advertisers to target users who spend at least 10 seconds on a website after clicking an ad.
According to an e-mail sent to advertisers, the new tool is designed to “bring high-intent users to your website” while providing engagement metrics like Total Engaged Sessions and Cost Per Engaged Session, similar to third-party analytics tools offered by Google and Adobe.
TikTok told some ad buyers that Engaged Session would be available on July 31st (a few days ago), but the feature has still not been rolled out publicly or formally announced yet. The company has only commented that they regularly test new features to get feedback, and “some of the tests don’t always end up as final products.”
2) Out of Phone Partners – TikTok is also adding partners to its “Out of Phone” advertising program, which brings its video ads to billboards, in-store displays, cinema promos, and other screens in shopping malls, taxis, and water-refilling stations.
In addition to ReachTV, GSTV and Vevo, TikTok will now begin offering ad placements with Curb, Westfield Malls, Rockbot, and Hope Hydration, which will allow the company to run brand promotions in over 15,000 taxicabs for millions of passengers annually via Taxi TV and tens of thousands of screens at shopping malls and other consumer-centric locations.
Dan Page, head of TikTok’s New Screens Team, told MediaPost in 2023, when the company first launched Out of Phone:
“Our goal is to make TikTok ubiquitous. There are over two billion ‘New Screens’ outside of mobile and our goal is to be on all of them.”
3) Buy with Prime – Last but not least… TikTok integrated Amazon's Buy with Prime checkout system into its advertising platform, allowing users to complete purchases directly within the app. The integration enables seamless in-app selling for brand owners with Amazon's Buy with Prime or Multi-Channel Fulfillment integrated into their websites.
Liran HirschkornLiran Hirschkorn, CEO of Incrementum Digital, said:
“Amazon tried to crack social commerce for YEARS. Amazon Inspire was a disaster. Amazon Live is still a ghost town. They kept trying to force entertainment onto a utility-first platform. Meanwhile, TikTok Shop is absolutely exploding. I'm seeing brands do $40K-$50K per livestream. So Amazon thought if we can't beat them? Let's become their backend. Smart move.”
