A new ad product test was spotted on TikTok – TechCrunch
What happened: The US app of short video platform TikTok was found to be testing a native video advertisement that links users to the advertiser’s website. A “Learn More” button in the ad video enables users to open the profile page of an advertiser named “Specialized Bikes.” The blue check mark next to the advertiser’s username, which is different from the yellowish-orange ones that appear on popular creators’ and official accounts’, suggests that advertisers have a different kind of account. Several glitches indicate that the video ad is still being tested.
Why it’s important: This is the latest advertising-related experiment by the Bytedance-owned app. Prior to this video ad, the only public test in the US or UK was an app launch pre-roll ad, according to TechCrunch. While advertiser accounts have been present in Douyin—TikTok’s sister app in China—for almost a year, they’ve only just appeared in TikTok. The appearance of an advertiser’s account, together with video ads that direct users to it, could mean that Bytedance is ready to up its monetization game in markets outside of China.