We’ve all seen TikTok’s unmatched ability to turn everyday people into viral internet stars, unite folks across the world around quirky dances (the viral Wednesday dance helped propel the show to number one), and spread awareness around important causes. While consumers delight in digestible content, advertisers are quickly realizing that they too have exciting new opportunities to reach users and drive action within the entertainment platform. 

Recognizing the importance of next generation data and insights, TikTok recently partnered with Samba TV to measure the omniscreen impact of its ad campaigns. Using Samba TV’s tune-in measurement, TikTok was able to measure its impact on driving viewership and watch time lifts across 34 separate studies. The results proved TikTok’s value in driving lower funnel results. 

What is Samba TV’s Tune-In Product?

Advertisers seeking to drive tune-in of their content are facing tough challenges as viewer attention fragments and more people cut the cord. For entertainment advertisers, one of the main outcome-based use cases for lower funnel measurement is to analyze and measure impact for tune-in campaigns. Rather than drive a consumer to purchase a product, the goal is to drive more viewership of a TV program.

Samba TV tune-in reporting gives a holistic look into how campaigns are driving viewership of any TV show, sporting event, or streaming movie to glean how the interactions of exposure to different media types impacts tune-in. By comparing tune-in among ad-exposed audiences with a control group, Samba TV is able to measure the lift in tune-in that TV and digital ads are driving both separately and together. 

How did Samba TV and TikTok Partner Together?

With TikTok representing Gen Z’s primary platform for discovering new shows and movies, more and more entertainment advertisers are recognizing its value in getting eyes on their content. To prove out this value, TikTok partnered with Samba TV to commission studies covering more than 30 tune-in campaigns across a variety of advertisers, genres, and seasons, measuring the impact its ads had on viewership and watch times. Did seeing an ad on TikTok spark people to watch shows that they otherwise would have skipped? And when they watched, did they stay tuned in for longer than they otherwise would have?

What Were the Results of the Study?

The results clearly showed the benefit of an omniscreen approach to driving tune-in. In fact, data from the meta-analysis showed that 97% of TikTok campaigns drove incremental viewership from households that otherwise would not have watched the program being analyzed, with an average tune-in lift of 159%. Additionally, households that tuned in after TikTok ad exposure watched each program for an average of 86 minutes, which was 26% higher than unexposed audiences - great news for streamers looking to keep viewers on their platform and engaged with their broad portfolio of content. 

What’s more, the impact of the TikTok campaigns analyzed was largely incremental to any TV promotion, with 45% of households who watched a program after seeing a TikTok ad not exposed to the ad campaign on traditional TV. The audience reached by the campaigns was a valuable one at that, with light TV viewers 6x more likely to be reached by TikTok ads than traditional TV ads. 

With TikTok fundamentally changing the way people discover new shows and movies to watch, it’s clear that new methodologies and insights are necessary to evolve to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. By embracing next generation insights and data, TikTok demonstrated the power its ads have at driving tune-in from the small screen to the big screen, and the opportunities this presents for advertisers are extremely exciting. 

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