Despite the uncertainty, some advertisers have increased their TikTok spend this year
By Krystal Scanlon • April 2, 2025 •
Ivy Liu
Uncertainty around TikTok’s future in the U.S. led many advertisers to slam the brakes on their advertising there. Others treated the turmoil as a green light.
Walmart, Coca-Cola, Comcast, PepsiCo, Warner Bros Discovery, Google and Amazon have increased their U.S. social media spend on the platform by two percentage points, on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter of 2025, according to Sensor Tower.
Those seven brands were also some of TikTok’s top spending U.S. advertisers in 2024, per the market intelligence firm. However, PepsiCo and Amazon declined to comment on this, while the other five companies did not respond to Digiday’s request for comment.
For marketers, it was a textbook case of risk vs. reward. Pulling back meant avoiding the political heat but risking the headache of reworking media plans if the app went dark, like it briefly did earlier this year. Doubling down, on the other hand, meant fewer competitors in the auction and cheaper ads for those willing to bet on the chaos.
“In talking to TikTok, it did seem like the holdcos were a bit more reserved to hop back into TikTok post-temporary ban,” said Shamsul Chowdhry evp, paid social at Jellyfish. “But it benefitted us as we’ve seen CPMs drop and our ROAS actually improve as a result.”
What once looked like a gamble is starting to look like foresight. The platform’s fate in the U.S. appears headed for resolution later this week with President Trump sounding increasingly confident that a deal will go through and TikTok will stick around. The ultimatum was clear: the app had to find a non-Chinese buyer or face being banned on national security grounds.
With the dust starting to settle, more marketers are easing off the panic button and taking a steadier stance on advertising there. TikTok’s execs have managed to ease any concerns marketers have had about its long-term future in the U.S. during its recent meetings with agency execs, in which the message was loud and clear: TikTok is confident about its future in the U.S., so marketers need not worry.
Nevertheless, TikTok’s headaches are far from over. A wave of senior departures from its ads team in recent weeks has left noticeable gaps, despite the team restructuring roles and departments in a bid to create a lean, more efficient work process.
For example, Khartoon Weiss, who has taken over the role of leader of global business solutions North America from Sameer Singh who left in February, in addition to her current scope leading global business solutions – global agency and accounts. The fallout remains to be seen but it’s that kind of talent drain that doesn’t pitch easily.
“Leadership turnovers will always bring a level of turbulence, but broadly speaking, the day to day support TikTok has been able to provide [us] has been consistent,” said Jack Johnston, senior social innovation director at Tinuiti. “I don’t necessarily believe that the exits indicate any uneasiness about TikTok’s future [in the U.S.] at this point.”
TikTok did not respond to Digiday’s request for comment.
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