Tech platforms pitch deals for advertisers as politics roils TikTok

The short-form video took centre stage at tech and social media companies' annual presentations to advertisers, as platforms like Snap and Meta look to capitalise on TikTok's political uncertainty in the US to take ad dollars from their rival.

The presentations in New York, known as the NewFronts, come just a week after US President Joe Biden signed a bill that gives Chinese tech company ByteDance up to one year to divest TikTok, or else the app will be banned over national security concerns. TikTok has vowed to fight the legislation.

TikTok is expected to generate $8.66B in US ad revenue this year according to an estimate from research firm Emarketer. While it is a fraction of the size of Google and Meta, TikTok kicked off the short-form video craze and prompted rivals to build similar features.

"TikTok must show advertisers that it's business-as-normal, even though it's anything but," Emarketer principal analyst Jasmine Enberg said.

On Wednesday, Snap, which owns photo messaging app Snapchat, said it would also partner with NBCUniversal to send popular influencers to the games to film content. It will also host clips of top concerts from events promoter Live Nation.

"We're having very productive conversations about how Snapchat can help because there is a lot of noise at the moment," said Patrick Harris, Snap's president of Americas and partnerships. "But we have our heads down and we're making sure we're a dependable and viable platform."

Content partnerships

The focus on professionally produced videos is designed to attract brands wary of the downside of social media or artificial intelligence (AI) generated content.

"Brands have to spend a little extra time thinking about the quality of environments, which is why these content partnerships that are being spun up are so important," said Robert Silver, head of media at digital marketing firm Razorfish.

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta focused its NewFront on Reels, its TikTok competitor that now accounts for half of the time users spend on Instagram.

"Instagram Reels already stands to benefit from a TikTok ban, and Meta wants to ensure that it can attract all the potential displaced users and revenues it can," Emarketer's Enberg said.

Google said on Monday that its short-form video feature, YouTube Shorts, is increasingly being viewed on TV screens and phones.

Despite the uncertainty over TikTok's future, advertisers say they intend to focus on the near term and some plan to continue advertising until it is no longer possible to do so.

"I think we need to put some blinders on and focus and try to understand what innovative capabilities are available for advertisers," said Alex Stone, senior vice president of agency partnerships at media buying firm Horizon Media, referring to TikTok's NewFront.