TikTok insists to advertisers that it’s a full-funnel platform, not just an entertainment app

It’s been pushing this message for a while. Chief strategy officer Ben Dutter at Power Digital, an agency that has worked with TikTok since November 2023 confirmed as much, saying that TikTok’s focus has been on full funnel as far back as then.

“While they’ve had dalliances focusing on measurement, shops, and other ad products, they [TikTok] strongly believe that TikTok can do everything from discovery to education to conversion,” he said. “Our incrementality data suggests that they’re right and have a comparable incremental return on ad spend equal to Meta.” He didn’t share exact figures. 

Despite those gains, which mirror what others are seeing, most marketers still aren’t fully convinced that TikTok deserves a larger share of their media budgets. Now, with a slate of new updates unveiled at TikTok World, the platform is making a fresh push to win them over and dispel any lingering doubts.

One key product, TikTok Market Scope, is considered a “first-of-its-kind” analytics platform, according to TikTok’s global head of creative operations, Moritz Bartsch. The product aims to help advertisers to identify, understand and activate audiences at every stage of the funnel.

When an advertiser logs into TikTok’s Market Scope, they’ll be able to see real-time data about where their users are in their decision-making journey along the funnel and adjust their strategies accordingly.  Currently live in different markets in Asia, TikTok Market Scope is also in testing in the U.S., the EU and LATAM. 

“Each brand will be able to see exactly how many users they have in the awareness, consideration and conversion stage,” said Bartsch. “Market scope will also inform clients [advertisers] about which organic and paid touch points are most effective at moving users down the funnel.”

Another major announcement was TikTok’s search center, an AI-powered platform within TikTok’s ads manager, which simplifies the process of planning, buying and measuring search ads on TikTok. The product will be live globally later this year, though no specific timeline or date was provided.

“It’s got everything a brand would need, including keyword planning tools, keyword suggestions, creative previews and negative keyword lists,” said Brian Torpy, global director of product strategy and operations at TikTok. “It’s going to help brands plan smarter and drive better results as we continue to invest in the entire ecosystem of search we’re building with our partners to bring sophisticated capabilities to market.”

With the common AI theme throughout the TikTok World announcements, Adolfo Fernandez (global head of product solutions and operations, commerce) shared how the team is scaling Smart+ and TikTok Shop’s GMV Max — TikTok’s answer to Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage+. As he noted, “At TikTok, we see AI as a force multiplier, not a replacement.”

Those updates include:

• TikTok Symphony (AI-powered suite of tools for creators and advertisers) functionalities have been added to Smart+
• Advertisers can now add catalog ads to Smart+
• The launch of Affiliate Creatives for Ads, which allows TikTok Shop merchants to turn creator content into more sales by automatically using authorized affiliate content in their GMV Max campaigns
• New brand safety levers sprinkled into Smart+

These products aim to help TikTok bring in more budget at a precarious time for the platform. The deadline for its second 75-day extension of its U.S. ban is a mere 16 days away, and there’s still no official confirmation of what a deal between the government there and its Chinese parent company Bytedance might look like.

And yet, the team continues to operate business as usual — the stance it’s maintained throughout its  legal battle with lawmakers in the U.S. Major events like TikTok World demonstrate that in the platform’s eyes, it’s here for the long haul, and so are advertisers. 

Through 2025, year-to-date, the top 10 advertisers on TikTok are spending 10% more on U.S. ads than the top 10 advertisers in the same period in 2024 (January to May 2024), according to data from SensorTower.

Additionally the platform is expected to reach $32 billion in global ad spend this year, which equates to a 24.5% year-on-year increase if the platform manages to avoid an outright U.S. ban, according to forecasts from WARC Media in March.

Tinuiti’s senior innovation director Jack Johnston said that his team expects TikTok to increase its competitive focus to stand out from its platform peers, to not only win more ad dollars, but also win and retain a growing and loyal user base.

“For advertisers, we expect innovations to come in the form of increased measurement through stronger partnerships that TikTok is foraging with preferred measurement partners, and increased automation through the likes of Smart+, GMV Max, and other automated campaign solutions,” he said, adding that the team also expects the platform to lean into TikTok Shop with increased user and brand incentives for purchases.