We know that TikTok is very keen on growing its e-commerce business, and now that includes selling ads built for shopping. The company introduced three new ‘Shopping Ads’ formats this week, which it’s pitching as “a simpler, smarter, and more advanced ad solution that helps brands meet shoppers wherever they are in the purchase journey”.
These include shoppable video ads, catalogue listing ads, and live shopping ads, which are being tested, respectively, globally; in the US; and in countries where the TikTok Shop feature is available.
Shopify and WooCommerce are among the commerce partners for the new ads. While the messaging is focused on brands, there may well be potential for music merch too – for artists who have the budget at least.
In separate news that will certainly be relevant to artists, TikTok is also testing a feature to share ‘stories’ posts from its app directly to Facebook and Instagram. What fate those stories will meet in the recommendation algorithms of those rival platforms remains to be seen, however: Instagram’s system is already thought to demote Reels that include a TikTok watermark.
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Tools: Kaiber
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