Despite the threat of a ban, the app is moving ahead with a NewFronts showcase focused on contextual advertising.
TikTok’s NewFronts pitch this year focuses on building out a Pulse Premiere platform that leans on premium publishers to help brands connect with consumers around high-profile IP and cultural moments, such as Paramount’s “The Daily Show,” NBCUniversal’s upcoming Olympics Games coverage and the Met Gala from Vogue. Paramount Global and the NHL are joining a roster that already includes Buzzfeed, Conde Nast, DotDash Meredith, Hearst Magazines, NBCUniversal, and sports leagues like the NFL, MLS, UFC, and MLB, among others.
The Pulse program focuses on top-of-the-crop TikTok content that drives discussions in categories like lifestyle, education, and entertainment. Pulse Premiere, launched at last year’s NewFronts, is positioned as giving advertisers greater control over where their ads appear in a digital landscape where brand safety and waste are top of mind. TikTok, which boasts over 1 billion monthly active users, cited in the announcement Kantar research that found 73% of surveyed consumers develop deeper connections to brands they interact with on the app.
TikTok returning to the NewFronts, an annual media-buying bonanza where brands and agencies lock in major deals comes as social media spending is on the upswing and could receive a further boost from cyclical events like the Summer Olympics and the election season. WARC forecasts that global social ad spending will increase 14.3% this year to $247.3 billion, and social media is now the top media channel worldwide, according to a report the researcher shared with Marketing Dive.
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The elephant in the room is that TikTok, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, is facing a ban unless it sells itself to a U.S. buyer within a year. While the deadline for a decision is still a while away, creators, publishers, and advertisers are already mulling their future on the app that is mega-popular with teens. That hasn’t seemed to stem excitement at the NewFronts: TikTok’s in-person showcase on Thursday evening is at capacity.