Even with a new U.S. TikTok deal in sight, marketers feel uneasy

For marketers, that creates more confusion than closure. A split app reality brings logistical headaches — two platforms, duplicate strategies, unclear audience migration. But the bigger question is economic: how much budget does a TikTok clone deserve, and who gets to decide what’s worth paying for when the dust settles?

“Unless this new app allows some cross-platform integrations similar to how Meta has with Facebook, Instagram, etc. then it could be quite difficult and cumbersome for advertisers to target one market using one app and another for rest of world,” said Shamsul Chowdhury, global evp paid social at Jellyfish.

Later’s CEO Scott Sutton had a similar take.

“Having a separate app creates issues because you can’t as easily target customers globally,” he said. “It’s no longer simple to look at these as two different geographies, because the data will all be migrated and completely separate. We’ll have to set up separate campaigns on the U.S. version of TikTok and then the preexisting version.”

TikTok execs, aware of the mounting unease, have started laying the groundwork to get ahead of it — or at least look like they are. 

Chowdhury noted that previously, TikTok said the ads manager won’t be impacted by the app — meaning changes will only impact the front end used by users, not the back end ads platform used by advertisers.

“Worst case scenario [if the ads platform is impacted], we’ll use VPNs similar to how we do now for teams in India managing TikTok campaigns,” he added.

But it’s not just about logistics. It’s about scale. As things stand, TikTok has recorded 170 million monthly active users in the U.S. — the platform’s largest market. Under the new deal, those existing users will be expected to shift over to this new U.S.-specific app. Marketers are watching to see if they actually do. Without the users, the algorithm — licensed or not — doesn’t mean much. A new app has to earn attention at scale. And until it does, ad dollars will sit tight. 

“Asking users to move to the new U.S. app — that’s a toss-up,” said Traci Asbury, social investment lead at Goodway Group. “If we learned anything from RedNote’s rush of U.S. adopters, it’s that true TikTok users want to stay connected and have a positive global experience.”

Needless to say, there’s still a lot of uncertainty marketers are having to get their head around. 

“We’ll have to deploy our teams to spend a lot of resources on this should TikTok have a new U.S. app version,” said Sutton. “There’s a lot of work we’ll be doing on the backend to make sure our clients are fully supported on TikTok — no matter what that outcome looks like.”

All of this is landing at the worst possible time: Q4. The busiest quarter of the year now comes with a high-stakes platform pivot. 

“This [new U.S. TikTok app] would have some serious impacts to investments, especially since this is a new platform with unproven results,” said Chowdhury. “I wouldn’t be surprised if budgets funnel into the tried and tested platforms such as Google and Meta because of this change.”

Longer term planning is just as uncertain. Marketers are still spending on TikTok today, but the horizon is hazy. 

Colleen Fielder, business outcomes partner at Basis Technologies noted that while her team is confident in investing in TikTok right now, long-term planning is far less certain. So building campaigns around TikTok in 2026 requires more clarity about the U.S. app. 

“We’d likely pause the spend once we get closer to the actual date of the transition and then wade in carefully as the new version is adopted for US users,” she said.

Asbury shared a similar perspective. “If account setup or management changes with the new app, there may be a temporary dip [to budgets],” she said. “But the onus will be on TikTok engineers to simplify the process and reassure advertisers.”

By the time this article was published, TikTok hadn’t taken any proactive approach to reach out to advertisers to reassure them about any next steps — at least not yet. Instead, the platform continued its stoic “nothing to see here”, business as usual demeanor.

That won’t hold for long. Marketers will want answers, starting with the one thing they’ve always cared about: the algorithm. Is it really the same? And more importantly, will it still deliver? 

“We have to consider the algorithmic quality in the rebuild, the migration of existing content and stats, the API coverage and changes on top of the absence of preexisting data,” Sutton said. “TikTok is and has been a major channel for brands investing in the creator economy, and a new app means starting from scratch for advertisers, platforms like us, and for creators themselves.” 

Fielder agreed. “From an advertising perspective, a new app would likely mean retraining algorithms from scratch, resetting user behavior data, and disrupting campaigns — all of which would likely have an impact on performance,” she said.

It’s one to watch. Not least because the algorithm licensing deal is a move that seems to have taken everyone by surprise, including U.S. House China Panel chair, John Moolenaar. He posted his reservations on X, since it still doesn’t seem to truly address the national security concerns that were always in question.

“I am concerned the reported licensing deal may involve ongoing reliance by the new TikTok on a ByteDance algorithm and application that could allow continued CCP [Chinese Communist Party] control or influence,” he posted.

TikTok did not respond to Digiday’s request for comment.