Just under 70% of APAC marketers are shifting their investments to target interest-based communities, with two-in-three marketers (67%) reevaluating their media mix towards TikTok.
The findings originate from new research released by WARC, in partnership with TikTok, titled: ‘When entertainment meets effectiveness – a guide to maximising impact’.
According to WARC, media effectiveness is becoming harder to achieve due to factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, media/audience fragmentation, ‘short-termism’, the death of the cookie and the ever-changing media landscape.
The marketing effectiveness research company’s report hopes to help marketers navigate the future with confidence and leverage new opportunities.
One of the key insights outlined is that culture is being ‘shaped and disseminated’ by communities and creators on entertainment platforms. More marketers are beginning to turn to platforms such as TikTok to drive impact, find new customers in an authentic way and take advantage of the ‘infinite opportunities’ to convert with ‘shoppertainment’.
According to Data.ai, 200 billion hours are spent by consumers on entertainment and short videos internationally. In comparison, 40 billion hours are spent on other apps such as social media networks.
The report also recommends that the industry utilises the sound and storytelling to drive brand recall. Ipsos research shows that ads that use sound as brand cues are 8.53 times more likely to be high performing for branded attention. Research by MediaScience and the Ehrenberg–Bass Institute also found that six-second ads deliver 60% of the impact of a thirty-second ad.
“Short form content can be filmed easily, lasting for only 15 seconds, yet it is still able to convey emotion, positive and/or negative feedback on our brand’s products in a fun way, which results in higher engagement,” COSRX head of consumer research center, Siuok Chung, said.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
WARC has also found that advertisers should build their own first-party data for better contextual targeting to tackle developments in data protection and privacy. The association also feels that in light of the ‘death’ of the cookie, marketers should experiment with SaaS based models and utilise AI-powered solutions to effectively test and evaluate creative work more efficiently.
With regards to tackling ‘short-termism’, WARC and TikTok’s report suggests that the industry strikes a balance across time frame, messaging type, audience type and buyer journeys.
“In recent years there has been a strong tendency towards short-termism and an excessive focus on performance metrics, which have undermined the true impact of what advertising can deliver,” WARC added. “A study by consultancy Ebiquity found 42% of advertising’s profit happens in the short-term and 58% in the long-term.”
Concluding the report, TikTok APAC and MEA head of business, Shant Oknayan, added: “Besides being the go-to entertainment platform for over 1 billion users every month, TikTok is also where entertainment meets marketing effectiveness.
“The power of entertainment enables brands to engage consumers along their full journey – from discovery to purchase, helping brands achieve measurable results and ultimately grow their business. Through this report our aim is to empower brands with insights and solutions to deliver sustainable and scalable impact in the face of today’s macro uncertainty.”
