TikTok

One of the world's largest short-form video platforms and a major digital advertising channel, competing directly with Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts for creator content and ad spend

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service that enables users to create and share short-form videos across a wide range of genres.¹ With nearly two billion monthly active users, TikTok offers significant marketing potential for businesses, particularly given that 70% of surveyed users report discovering new brands on the platform.² Its paid advertising system helps businesses reach targeted audiences through multiple ad formats, including In-Feed ads, Brand Takeovers, TopView, Branded Hashtag Challenges, Branded Effects, Spark Ads, and Branded Mission.¹ The platform's targeting capabilities support audience segmentation across demographics, interests, behaviors, and device types, and advertisers can build custom audiences based on engagement with specific content or hashtags.² TikTok also provides brands with production and measurement tools, including TikTok One for creator-brand collaboration and TikTok Market Scope, an analytics tool that tracks user behavior across the full buyer journey from awareness through to conversion.² In 2023, nearly 30,000 companies advertising more than 35,500 brands collectively spent $3.8 billion on TikTok advertising, with media, entertainment, and retail sectors among the heaviest spenders.³ Source 1: leadsbridge.com — The complete guide to TikTok advertising (with examples) Source 2: shopify.com — TikTok Ads in 2026: Strategy, Costs & Best Practices Source 3: marketingbrew.com — Brands spent nearly $4 billion on TikTok ads in 2023: report