Few advertising platforms have weathered as much turbulence—or captured as many headlines—as TikTok.
Since its swift rise in popularity, the app has been the target of multiple US ban attempts, faced government hearings over national security concerns, and become ground zero for debates over youth safety and mis- and disinformation.
At the same time, TikTok has in many ways reshaped digital advertising, driving the rise of short-form video, ushering in the era of “messy realness”, and giving brands an unmatched gateway to younger audiences.
Today, TikTok finds itself at perhaps its most dramatic turning point yet: With a thrice-delayed ban set to take effect on September 17, TikTok parent company ByteDance is reportedly creating a new version of the app specifically for US users, in anticipation of a potential sale. For advertisers, this development raises significant questions about how their campaigns and media strategies will be impacted. Here’s what marketers need to know as the platform enters this pivotal moment.
Reporting on the new US-specific TikTok app, reportedly codenamed “M2”, first surfaced in July via The Information. The outlet noted that the app could launch as soon as September 5, with current users required to migrate over from the old app—likely during a grace period where both versions remain accessible. According to the report, it’s still unclear how much the US app will differ from the current version, and whether users would be restricted to viewing content from US creators.
This limited reporting leaves advertisers with a variety of weighty questions. During the grace period when both versions are live, will TikTok ads appear in one app or both? Will brand profiles migrate automatically, and will existing followings be preserved? How much will user volume decrease if audiences are required to download a new app, and how much will those users actually enjoy the updated experience?
From an advertising perspective, a new app would likely mean retraining algorithms from scratch, resetting user behavior data, and disrupting campaigns—all of which would likely have an impact on performance.
Another key point is that the Chinese government has been adamant that it will not allow TikTok’s algorithm to be sold to the US. That algorithm is the “secret sauce” behind the app’s highly personalized For You Page, and what makes TikTok so uniquely engaging. If the algorithm is off the table, the sale amounts to little more than the TikTok brand.
While a sale of TikTok’s US operations seems inevitable, the ban has already been delayed multiple times and could easily be pushed back again. With so much uncertainty in play, advertisers must approach their TikTok investments with strategies that help safeguard against potential disruptions from the transition to the new app.
For now, TikTok continues to deliver results, with engagement numbers that make it hard to ignore—especially heading into the holiday season. While advertisers should continue investing in the platform and maximize performance while they can, long-term planning is far less certain. Beyond mid-2026, it’s risky to build campaigns around TikTok until the future of the US app becomes clearer. The same caution applies to influencer marketing: creators who exist almost exclusively on TikTok may not be the safest long-term bet. Instead, advertisers should prioritize partnerships with influencers who have an established presence across multiple platforms, ensuring reach and relevance even if TikTok’s trajectory changes.
From a paid perspective, advertisers should put equal—if not greater—energy into Instagram, where Reels closely mirrors TikTok’s format, as well as towards other platforms with strong short-form video offerings like Facebook and YouTube. This diversification will help guard against disruption and keep campaigns performing no matter what happens with TikTok. At the same time, from an organic perspective, it’s hard to justify heavy investment in content specialized for TikTok given the platform’s uncertain future.
TikTok remains a powerful channel today, but its long-term stability is anything but certain. By leaning into short-term opportunities while building a broader, more resilient social strategy, advertisers can protect themselves from disruption and position their campaigns for success no matter what comes next.
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Want to learn more about TikTok’s meteoric rise in popularity, how it’s changed the marketing and advertising landscape, and its unique connection to Gen Z? Check out TikTok by the Numbers: Stats and Facts for Digital Advertisers for all of the above, plus more.
In this episode, adtech consultant Peter Crofut (formerly with Wurl) joins host Noor Naseer to unpack audience discovery and other evolutions in the world of connected TV.
From avoiding mismatched ad moments to creating emotionally resonant connections, Peter highlights the benefits of going beyond premium audiences by focusing on premium moments, too. He also shares how FAST channels are reshaping perceptions of premium content and how AI is unlocking new levels of contextual targeting. He and host Noor Naseer discuss challenges around measurement, attribution, and privacy, as well as the roles of innovation and interactivity in shaping the future of CTV advertising.
The era of intrigue and exploration is now over, and the outcome is clear: AI in marketing is here to stay. But as the technology approaches near-universal adoption across the industry, how can marketers and advertisers move beyond baseline efficiencies and tap into the technology’s full potential?
In our third-annual AI and the Future of Marketing report—based on a proprietary survey of marketing and advertising professionals from leading agencies and brands—shows that AI adoption rates have soared, productivity gains are widespread, and expectations for what comes next are higher than ever. But despite this progress, risks still abound, and for many organizations, true AI-powered differentiation remains a work in progress.
Early experiments with agentic AI and custom or semi-custom models suggest that the next wave of disruption could be even more dramatic: collapsing campaign cycles, elevating the role of first-party data, and redefining how teams are structured. Marketers across the industry are increasingly recognizing that this shift is imminent, and a sizable majority believe that AI will radically transform digital advertising in the next three to five years.
For marketing and advertising leaders, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to do so responsibly, strategically, and with urgency. Those who invest now in clean, unified first-party data, experiment with custom solutions, and prepare their teams to embrace new ways of working will be best positioned to capture the gains—and guard against the risks—that AI can generate.
This report is designed to help industry leaders navigate that journey. It contains data-driven insights on adoption patterns, efficiency gains, risks and concerns, and workforce implications of an AI-powered future. Together, the findings highlight how AI is shaping marketing today, while illustrating how it is poised to redefine the industry in the very near future.
You’ll learn:
Download your copy today.
Curation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s become a foundational piece of programmatic strategy.
In this episode, Filippo Gramigna, co-CEO of OneTag, joins host Noor Naseer to break down what curation really means and the critical role it plays for buyers, sellers, and the entire programmatic ecosystem. He shares his perspective on how curation addresses issues like signal loss, DSP inefficiencies, and inventory waste while also driving better outcomes and price dynamics for both sides of the marketplace.
Despite a US law threatening a ban—now delayed multiple times by the Trump Administration—and ongoing privacy and cybersecurity scrutiny around the globe, the TikTok era of social advertising marches on.
Far beyond its origins as a lip-syncing app for teens, TikTok has transformed expectations of social networks and become an essential platform for many advertisers.
Powered by a dynamic algorithm that quickly gauges individual user preferences and then curates a highly personalized “For You” page (FYP), TikTok doesn’t have its users tell the platform what they want to see: Rather, it tells them. Those users seemingly can’t get enough—and neither can advertisers, who have been drawn to the app for its unmatched ability to capture attention and spark engagement, especially with younger audiences. In blending entertainment, community, and commerce, the platform has become a powerful space for both brand storytelling and direct sales.
Of course, TikTok is not without its troubles and controversies. In 2024, former President Biden signed a bill into law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US company or face a nationwide ban. Since then, enforcement has been repeatedly delayed under President Trump, leaving the platform in a holding pattern. With the latest extension set to expire on September 17, TikTok is reportedly developing a US-specific version of the app in preparation for a potential sale—a shift that could leave advertisers operating on a platform different from the one they know today.
While TikTok’s future remains uncertain, advertisers haven’t pulled back on their investments in the platform. Here, we explore the evolution of this paradigm-shifting app through a collection of stats and facts. We’ll cover all the good stuff and all the ban-related stuff as we paint a picture of why TikTok continues to be the talk of the digital advertising town.
It is, quite literally, a multi-billion-dollar question: Just how did TikTok go from being a niche player to one of the most popular apps on the planet?
The reality is there is no single answer, but instead a combination of factors: simple and easy-to-use video creation tools that blur the metaphorical line between creator and consumer, a vast library of licensed music that allows users to easily enrich their clips with audio without fear of copyright infringement, and a community and collaborative feel within the platform (think hashtag challenges and Stitch). The model is so successful, in fact, that it has frightened Meta and YouTube (among others) into disrupting their own businesses—Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, anyone?
“Don’t make ads, make TikToks.”
That was the invitation TikTok laid out for advertisers when it opened its brand-facing wing way back in 2020. And with the company’s revenues skyrocketing, it appears that challenge has been gleefully accepted.
TikTok’s ad business made its first foray into performance marketing with lead-generation ads that empower brands to collect information from prospective consumers through forms and contests. Since then, TikTok has been busy expanding upon those offerings, rolling out formats like interactive add-ons, search ads, and collection ads that together play a fundamental part in the app’s monetization strategy.
TikTok has disrupted how an entire generation connects, shops, entertains and educates itself, and ultimately perceives the world. To understand why TikTok is so popular with Gen Z is to understand that generation’s most broadly-shared characteristics. For example, authenticity is one of this generation’s top values—which explains why the “messy realness” of TikTok resonates so well. Gen Z is also the first generation of digital natives, which means they are well-acquainted with digital advertising tactics and therefore naturally drawn to fresh ideas and creative storytelling (for example, unfiltered videos!). In other words, TikTok and Gen Z were made for one another.
TikTok’s expansion into search and commerce media indicate that the app is not content to simply sit in the realm of short-form video. The diversification of its portfolio could pit TikTok against the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Google as it transforms into a public square for news and commerce, in addition to entertainment.
After the US federal government and numerous states outlawed use of TikTok on government-issued devices (something many other countries have done as well), former President Joe Biden signed a law in 2024 forcing ByteDance to sell the wildly popular app or face an outright ban across the US. That law was upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2025, and TikTok briefly halted service in the US just before the divestiture deadline of January 19.
Then, on the first day of his second term, President Trump signed an executive order delaying enforcement for 75 days. He has since issued two more 75-day extensions, keeping TikTok operating for the time being while divestment talks continue. A wide array of potential buyers have been named in recent months, from Oracle to AI company Perplexity to social media influencer MrBeast.
To prepare for a potential sale, TikTok has reportedly been working on a new version of the app specifically for US users, with a rumored launch planned for September 5. For advertisers, the potential transition to a different version of TikTok presents a variety of weighty questions: With ByteDance repeatedly claiming that it won’t sell the algorithm that fuels TikTok (otherwise known as its “secret sauce”), how different will the new app’s algorithm be from the original’s? Will advertising profiles automatically be ported over to the new app, or will advertisers need to rebuild them? How will US user numbers be impacted?
As long as these questions remain unanswered, marketers may want to avoid overleveraging their TikTok spend and, instead, employ a diversified paid social strategies.
TikTok grew into a digital advertising powerhouse seemingly overnight. Its consumer appeal and high engagement rates across numerous verticals make it a worthy option for ad spending for a wide variety of marketing teams. But with the threat of a ban looming, marketers would be wise to start scenario planning and maintain flexibility with social ad buys so they can quickly pivot to an alternative video platform quickly if needed.
One thing is for sure: For now, at least, TikTok remains social media’s golden child—and there are great rewards available to those that get it right.
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Interested in learning about how to make the most of TikTok? Check out our webinar, Seizing the TikTok Advertising Opportunity, for guidance from TikTok advertising experts.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping the marketing and advertising landscape at a rapid pace. In under three years since ChatGPT’s public debut, the industry has shifted from curiosity to near-universal adoption—and advertiser perspectives are evolving quickly. To understand exactly how this transformation is playing out, we surveyed leading agencies and brands for a new report detailing how marketers are using and feeling about AI in 2025.
In this webinar, Basis’ VP of Media Innovations & Technology, Noor Naseer, and Amy Rumpler, EVP of Integrated Client Solutions, unpack findings from this research. Together, they share insights on what the data reveals and highlight what advertisers need to know to stay ahead as AI continues to evolve.
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Looking for more insights? Be sure to check out our 2025 AI and the Future of Marketing report for the complete findings.
How can publishers reclaim online conversations from walled gardens and build thriving, brand-owned communities—while attracting advertisers and users alike? Jim Daily, CEO of OpenWeb, joins host Noor Naseer to discuss why moderation remains essential to fostering safe, productive dialogue for both consumers and advertisers.
From tackling toxic comment sections to creating decentralized, publisher-level social platforms, Jim shares how OpenWeb is pioneering a “social layer” for the open internet. He also shares how this approach helps publishers reduce reliance on search and social traffic, drive engagement and monetize responsibly.
In this episode, Ian Forrester—founder of creative effectiveness platform DAIVID—joins host Noor Naseer to discuss why traditional creative testing is too slow and costly for today’s high-volume ad world.
Ian explains how AI-powered creative data can measure attention, emotion, and memory at scale, helping brands quickly identify what works and link creative quality to business outcomes. He also shares his take on striking the right balance between data and intuition, the cultural nuances of emotional response, and how creative insights can unite brand and performance marketing.
In a volatile economy, marketers are expected to do more with less.
Year-over-year digital ad spending growth has dropped below 10% for the first time since 2009. And while the impact of tariffs has been less severe than many feared, budgets are still under pressure and every ad dollar must work harder. But the rise of AI slop—low-quality, AI-generated content that’s been flooding digital platforms—is making that more challenging.
It’s distorting performance metrics, eroding trust, and draining budgets in media environments that often don’t deliver. For marketing leaders, it’s critical to understand how, if left unchecked, the effects of AI slop can translate into real business risks.
AI slop content can garner huge reach without offering real value to audiences—or advertisers. Whether through social media algorithms that reward engagement with such content or ad networks flooded with AI content farms that masquerade as legitimate inventory, this inflated reach muddies the waters for marketers trying to measure success, making it difficult to separate strong campaign performance from inflated metrics.
The problem manifests differently across platforms. On social media, one AI-generated Facebook post racked up over 40 million views and 1.9 million engagements in a single quarter. Yet the pages that share such posts are often spam, using clickbait tactics to drive users to scams or fake storefronts. In the programmatic ecosystem, AI has led to the proliferation of made-for-advertising (MFA) sites filled with low-quality inventory that might appear legitimate, but delivers little meaningful value.
Running ads alongside such content wastes budget and obscures what tactics are actually working. Campaigns may appear successful on the surface, but if the underlying performance data is misleading, it’s harder to tie media activity to real business outcomes. In a high-pressure economy, where marketers are being asked to prove ROI with fewer resources, this risk can prove especially costly.
Amidst a crisis of consumer trust, AI-generated content is making things worse. The explosion of AI slop is fueling what has been described as a “perverse information ecosystem” that overwhelms and desensitizes users, making trust harder to earn and easier to lose.
As synthetic content continues to spread, so does public skepticism around the technology behind it: 43% of US adults think the increased use of AI will harm them. And a recent study found that 73% of UK consumers are concerned about the prevalence of AI-generated content online.
That skepticism affects how people interpret everything they encounter on the internet, including ads. When brands’ messages appear next to low-quality, synthetic, and misleading content, it puts their credibility at risk. Even well-intentioned campaigns may come across feeling manipulative or out of touch when the surrounding environment lacks integrity.
In an unpredictable economic landscape, that loss of trust can carry a real cost. Ads that don’t resonate—or worse, that backfire—drain budget and weaken long-term brand equity. For marketers under pressure to prove impact, protecting trust is essential to both brand health and business performance.
An often-overlooked danger of AI slop is its ability to quietly corrupt the data that advertisers rely on to make smarter decisions.
On MFAs, traffic is driven by content designed to lure casual clicks rather than build meaningful engagement. Meanwhile, social algorithms often amplify AI slop in a way that inflates shallow interactions and gives outsized weight to clicks and views with little real intent behind them.
This creates a cascading problem. When users interact with ads placed against AI slop content, those interactions pollute an advertiser’s own data. These contaminated touchpoints then get incorporated into audience segments, lookalike models, and retargeting pools, degrading data-driven decisions. In a turbulent economy where every targeting decision matters, flawed data can lead to costly misallocation of ad spend.
AI slop poses real risks to campaign performance, brand safety, and business outcomes. And during times of economic uncertainty, those risks are even more costly. As AI-generated content continues to proliferate across digital platforms, advertising leaders must make adapting to this new reality a strategy priority, not an afterthought.
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With AI slop on the rise, advertising leaders can’t afford to take a reactive approach. Check out How Advertisers Can Adapt to the Age of AI Slop to see how top teams are protecting performance, improving inventory quality, and maintaining trust in a turbulent media environment.
