TikTok has quickly become a powerhouse for content creators and advertisers alike, serving as a bridge between the two, and an effective marketing tool for both brands. The success of TikTok as a platform leads us to wonder what would happen if the biddable ads we see on other social media platforms came into play.
What are TikTok Biddable Ads?
Biddable media is when marketers place bids on paid search or social media spots for their advertising instead of paying flat fees. It is essentially competitive bidding for ad space, which normally occurs in real-time. Many advertisers find out that bidding for ads is much more involved than they initially expected.
Essentially, biddable ads are ads that can be managed by an advertiser or agency through a self-serve platform, opposed to the TikTok managed ad services.
One of the bigger questions for this type of platform is of cost, which can be somewhat of a grey area in any type of biddable advertising. This is especially true when we consider that advertising platforms are all different, with their own fine print. We looked into TikTok’s costs for biddable ads, to clarify a baseline amount for marketers and advertisers to reference.
TikTok Ads Minimum Cost
For TikTok ads to be truly effective, a minimum budget is required to advertise on the platform. In fact, the goal is to be sure there is sufficient budget to achieve the best outcome for the brands. The minimum budget at the campaign level is $500, while at the ad group level it’s $50. The budget can be altered if necessary. TikTok advertising is not known for being cheap. Examine the following TikTok ad formats
| TikTok Ad Formats | TikTok Pricing |
|---|---|
| Brand Takeover | $50,000 per day (5 million impressions guaranteed) |
| In-Feed | $10 per impression (minimum 600 impressions prepaid) |
| Hashtag Challenge | $150,000 per week |
What’s the Average Cost Per Click?
While all advertising budgets and outcomes are different, it helps to know there is a baseline amount that can be referenced. We analyzed a budget of $50,000, comparing its usage between Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. TikTok ads generated 155% more clicks while costing 36% less money. Any marketer worth his or her rate should keep numbers like these in mind for future ad campaigns.
The cost-per-click(CPC) for TikTok was $0.19, while Facebook and Instagram were at a combined $0.46. Note that the advertisements measured in this study were run in the United States only.
Your Cheat Sheet to TikTok Biddable Ads Pricing
In a rush and looking for a quick answer to your question, use our cheat sheet for a quick summary of TikTok ads’ cost:
| Pricing Factor | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Ad Spend | $5000+ per month |
| CPC (TikTok Biddable Ads) | $1 or less per click |
| Professional TikTok Ads Management | $500 to $5000 or 2-30% of ad spend per month |
The TikTok professional management fee varies depending on the amount of ad spend and the complexity of your campaigns. If your monthly budget is 1MM and you’re paying a percentage of ad spend then it’s certainly going to be a much smaller percentage than if you’re only spending $5,000 a month.
What About Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM)?
There are similar results when we look at cost-per-1000-impressions or CPM. The TikTok CPM cost only $1.82, while the combined Facebook and Instagram CPM cost was $6.73. This shows that TikTok was able to deliver far more impressions than the other two applications.
Spending for the TikTok campaign came to $20,128.11; Total spending for the Facebook and Instagram campaigns came to $31,615.51. The rationale for this cost difference is likely that TikTok currently has the highest engagement from all different users and audiences. With over 800 million monthly users, TikTok was the most used application in 2020.
TikTok Ads Pricing Options
Believe it or not, bidding is actually a strong part of the overall ad creation process. There are several bidding types a marketer can choose from:
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
- Optimized Cost Per Click (oCPC)
- Cost Per Mille/Thousand Impressions (CPM)
- Cost Per Thousand Views (CPV)
All four of these contribute to different results from the consumer, and the marketer can alter the budget when necessary.
How to Determine TikTok Advertising Costs?
There are two different ways to pay for advertising on TikTok, by choosing from the following:
Budget: There are two different budgeting options for TikTok ads: daily or lifetime. Marketers can switch the budget on their campaign at any time, and the system will never exceed the budget.
Bid: These show how much a marketer is willing to pay for the action, and we’re currently finding out how to determine the costs for it all.
How TikTok Compares to Other Platforms
While all platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses, TikTok has proven itself to be valuable in its own way. According to Digiday, TikTok’s cost-per-thousand-impressions are as low as $1. On Facebook, these same costs can be as high as $4 in the news feed and story formats. This cost comparison alone makes TikTok a candidate consideration, not to mention the potential for exposure.
TikTok’s average cost-per-view (CPV)
Compared to YouTube, TikTok’s prices can be very favorable when comparing the average cost-per-view (CPV). Youtube ads will cost you between $10,000 – $30,000 to reach 100,000 viewers whereas TikTok’s ad platform allows you to set your maximum CPV bid for 1,000 6-second or 2-second video views.
For instance, if we know that YouTube’s average cost-per-view is between $0.010 – $0.030 and we want to run TikTok Ads cheaper than the average YouTube ad, then we would set a max CPV bid of $0.010 or less. We would then multiply that by 1,000 to figure our average CPV.
CPV = Total cost / Total video views * 1000
On 100,000 video views at a cost-per-view of $0.05, we would spend $50 to reach 1,000 users and $5,000 to reach 100,000 video viewers.
Depending on how large your audience is, you may need to expand it in order to reach viewers at such a low cost.
How Can I Set a Realistic Budget and Bid for TikTok Ads?
Knowing that TikTok ads are generally cheaper than Facebook and Instagram ads, you can allocate about 65% of what your monthly Facebook budget is towards TikTok ads. This will allow you to test the platform and see if it’s going to be a good fit for your business or not. I think you’ll be surprised that with just 65% of your original Facebook budget, you’re able to get similar results on TikTok.
If you don’t already have a Facebook budget then I would look at other platforms that you’re advertising on and do some similar math. At the moment, TikTok is one of the cheapest social media platforms to advertise on but that most likely won’t always be the case. As it continues to grow in popularity, we’ll most likely start to see prices increase, similar to how they did
Why advertise on TikTok?
There are tons of benefits to advertising on TikTok. The obvious one is that you get your brand messages in front of a wider audience and increase awareness, but that goes for all advertising platforms. So, why TikTok specifically?
1. Audience Demographics
Simply put, TikTok is in right now. Have you seen our list of crazy TikTok stats? Spoiler alert: they’re insane.
The stats are that probably most useful to you are the ones regarding their audience. TikTok reaches a larger gen-Z audience than any other social media platform, and they’re engaged.
More than 50% of TikTok’s audience is under the age of 34 and a large part is under the age of 21. If you have a product or service that caters to teenagers and young adults then it’s a no-brainer for you.
2. Scalability
As the fastest growing social media app (at the time of this posting) with more than 800 million engaged monthly users, the possibilities are endless. You’re able to scale TikTok ads the same way you were able to do with Facebook 5 years ago. A.k.a it’s not sold-out yet.
Remember the days when you could easily scale your Facebook ads without the frequency or costs going through the roof? Remember when you could post to your Facebook page and reach your whole audience without having to boost it? That’s where TikTok is today. They’re still young, they’re still growing exponentially, and there’s a ton of opportunity.
3. Influencers
Unlike other platforms, TikTok gives you a direct way to work with influencers through the TikTok Creator Marketplace. You don’t need any expensive third-party to find, contact, and partner with the top influencers on the platform.
4. Creative Tools
If you’re the creative type and want to expand your creative capabilities then TikTok is definitely the platform for you. Specifically, TikTok has 6 distinct creative tools that are unique to their platform.
Not only that, but the content that performs best on TikTok is usually very creative and unique content. So if you’re thinking about launching TikTok ad campaigns, you need to keep in mind the cost of creative. You may not be able to use the same creative that you’re using on other ad platforms.
Final Thoughts
TikTok biddable ads have their perks, especially since the platform delivers so many unique features. Compared to other major social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, however, there are also some drawbacks.
As we all watch TikTok become more and more popular, it’s easy to conclude this is not a platform that will come and go like so many others. Momentum over the past year has propelled the application beyond diminishing influence.
Are biddable cost ads worth it to you and your marketing/advertising campaigns? Are you planning on utilizing TikTok Ads with a TikTok advertising agency? Let us know in the comments as we’d love to know your thoughts and actions during your campaign process.
