TikTok launched TikTok Ads in the Balkan region in August and now is the best time for advertisers to join the platform. We’ve covered the basics of TikTok advertising and a guide for creating ads on TikTok in our previous blog posts and in this post we’ll show you the comparison between TikTok and other advertising platforms.
What are the key differences between TikTok and Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X Ads?
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
An important factor in TikTok advertising is the minimum investment price, i.e. $0.50 is the minimum possible CPM and advertisers are obligated to invest at least $500 per campaign. This requirement could be significant for advertisers in some cheaper markets with less market competition where $0.50 may be above the market rate. However, most markets have an average CPM that on average ranges between $6 and $12. This number can vary depending on multiple factors, main one being the industry of the advertiser.
Expected CPM for Croatia on TikTok is around 1-2€ based on the Meta Ads costs for Croatia compared to other countries.
Meta on the other hand has a minimum budget requirement of $1 spent per day which makes it a bit more accessible for first-time advertisers that want to try out the functionalities of Meta Ads. In the long term the lower financial barrier to entry won’t make a difference to a serious advertiser since it’s hard to achieve much with such a small budget. Meta Ads have a higher average CPM: it averages around $10 in most western markets and around €3 in Croatia. Meta Ads prices oscillate far less compared to TikTok Ads because more advertisers globally use Meta for their campaigns.
While ads on X are generally much cheaper than on Meta, we expect TikTok to offer the most affordable advertising, with costs dropping even lower than those on X, when it comes to video ads.The average CPM of Twitter video ads in Croatia is around 1€ and TikTok will likely have an even lower CPM, at least in the beginning. For advertisers, this presents a valuable opportunity to maximize reach and engagement at a lower cost.
Overall, TikTok Ads are expected to be significantly more cost-effective than Meta Ads, especially when the goal is to maximize reach. However, it’s important to also consider other factors, like click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate when aiming to optimize for conversions.
Are TikTok ads better for small or big businesses? They work well for both as long as you follow the best practices such as frequent creative updates and improvements and take into account the way TikTok fits into your overall marketing strategy. Small businesses looking to start TikTok advertising have to take into account the minimum campaign spend of 500€. While a minimum budget looks like a hurdle to get into advertising it’s a good guideline of a minimum spend necessary to achieve results. Larger businesses have the option of utilising A/B testing creatives and targeting settings which is highly recommended in order to increase performance.
What are TikTok targeting options compared to Meta targeting?
Looking at TikTok, Meta and X, each of these platforms provide great targeting options with nuances that fit different strategies, depending on the advertising goals. While differences are not huge they can be significant when implementing advanced marketing strategies.
TikTok
TikTok ad targeting options allow you to show your ads to certain user users by multiple targeting dimensions: Demographic targeting (age, gender, location and language), Interest Targeting (interests derived from their behavior on the platform, e.g. Gaming), and Behavioral targeting. The latter includes,
Engagement with content: Target users based on their interaction with specific types of content, such as videos they watch, like, share, or comment on.
Hashtags: Target users based on their interaction with videos (e.g., users who have watched videos from a specific category or with specific hashtags).
Additional target options focus on:
- Purchase intent: Target in-market users who are actively researching or purchasing one specific category of product or service. (e.g. Travel Intent)
- Device targeting: Device model, device price, operating system, carrier, ISP and network type
- Smart Targeting: Expands your targeting settings when the system predicts it will be hard to deliver ads based on your initial targeting selections to reach a larger audience who are more likely to convert, thus extending your delivery cycle. It works similarly to Meta’s Advantage + targeting.
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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- Custom audiences: You can upload your own list of users and match them via email or phone number to target them on TikTok.
- Lookalike audiences: Target users who are similar to your existing custom audience.
Meta
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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- Internal Meta sources include video, lead form, instant experience, shopping, AR experience, Instagram account, events, Facebook page and on-Facebook listings.
- External data sources include website users, app users, catalogs, customer lists and offline activity.
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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X (formerly Twitter)
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Different ad formats between platforms
TikTok ad formats vs Meta and X ad formats
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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TikTok ads vs Youtube Shorts ads
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Conclusion
Costs largely depend on the type of campaign you’re running, your ad creative, targeting settings, ad copy etc. Both platforms primarily charge their users by impression and the best way to compare the costs is via average CPM.
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Read more about TikTok Advertising:
Introduction to TikTok Advertising - Basics and Getting Started
