Can TikTok triple its ad revenue this year?

The news: TikTok is investing heavily to meet its goal of tripling its advertising revenue from about $4 billion last year to roughly $12 billion this year, per a report in Chinese media outlet LatePost. The social video platform nearly doubled the size of its advertising products and technical teams in 2021.

TikTok also named software platform CreatorIQ as an official marketing partner. That will enable CreatorIQ to offer brands access to key first-party insights on audience demographics, growth trends, and performance. 

More on this: With 1.5 billion monthly active users (MAUs) expected in 2022, TikTok is the most popular social video platform, thanks to its addictive algorithm that has made it incredibly popular with Generation Z and millennials.

Now, it is on a pronounced push to win marketers’ trust—and attract a larger share of their budgets. Throughout the past year, it made significant moves to bolster its standing among marketers, including: 

• Overhauling its branded content policies to take greater control over influencer activities 
• Implementing new social commerce capabilities to enable more shoppable content on its platform  
• Adding creator tools such as tipping for featured creators 
• Launching a TV app that’s built for the big screen
• Expanding its reach via an agreement with Atmosphere in which the startup—which provides licensed, curated streaming video content for commercial venues such as restaurants, doctors’ offices, and gyms—will develop a channel on its platform dedicated to curated TikTok videos

By bulking up its advertising products and technical teams, expanding its offerings, and working with platforms such as CreatorIQ, TikTok looks to overcome the reluctance of some companies to work with it. 

Looking forward: TikTok aims to gain marketers’ trust. 

• TikTok is the least trusted major social media platform, behind Instagram, YouTube, Google, and Facebook, per a report by Kantar.
• Among major brands, 49% have not posted to TikTok, and 40% don’t have a TikTok account, according to a review of 300 companies by the research group WARC. That includes brands such as Ikea, Nestlé, Audi, and Toyota. 

The social video platform also needs to make it simpler to develop content that aligns with the TikTok environment. Relationships such as the one with CreatorIQ can help. CreatorIQ, for example, will provide marketers with a one-stop shop where they can examine demographics and trends, find the best creators to work with, and plan and execute campaigns. 

The takeaway: TikTok has shaken up social media with a number of notable triumphs. Rounding out its content offerings could help it make inroads with large advertisers and meet its 2022 revenue goal.