Back to our current “hot” topic of comparing ad performance on TikTok Ads vs Facebook Ads, we are ready to share some new data with you. At this time we focus on video engagement! We have analyzed the key metrics from the last two months (April 1 – May 31, 2020) and found significant differences between the two platforms.
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The overall results show that with 55% less amount spent we were able to reach 100% more impressions on TikTok which is basically confirming the still very low CPMs that you get on the newcomer Ad Platform. 
Let’s see the results of this period (April 1 – May 31, 2020) in detail! Counting all the countries, CPMs are still in line with the previous reports: much lower on TikTok vs. on Facebook, and the difference is -77%, big win for TikTok.
Learn More: TikTok Growth Strategy 2023
For a better comparison, we have broken it down to compare Canada and the United States:
TikTok Ads vs Facebook Ads – which channels’ audience is more patient to watch your ads?
Let’s take a look at the watch-time! If we compare the number of times our videos were played in the period of May (May 1-31, 2020) at 25%, 50%, and 100% of its length, the watch retention rate is higher on TikTok. This can have several reasons. On one hand, we guided our client to produce video ads that look similar to TikTok’s original content – same overlays, same design elements, music choice, etc. This of course forces some clients to leave their typical brand guidelines for a moment – or at least work around them very creatively – but it helps to attract an audience that is not so much influenced by ads yet, which is the second reason we believe plays a big role here.
Read more: Pinterest vs Facebook
Based on that it seems that the patience of people on TikTok is stronger than on Facebook. Accordingly, we can say that the ad effectiveness might be higher. Our previous reports show that extremely cheap CPMs, CPCs, CPIs combined with this high ad effectiveness make a good catch for us advertisers. So:
TikTok Ads vs Facebook Ads – Should you advertise on TikTok? Yes!
While trying to make the decision if TikTok is the relevant platform for your brand – you might want to take a look at the changing TikTok demographics here! – and searching for examples of effective TikTok ads, we have compiled some fresh stats that can help you determine if your business should advertise on TikTok. The answer is still: Yes!
- With 800+ million monthly active users, TikTok beats LinkedIn (950+ million), Reddit (430+ million), Snapchat (218+ million), Twitter (340+ million), and Pinterest (322+ million).
- So far TikTok has been downloaded more than 2 billion times globally on the App Store and Google Play after the best quarter (Q1 2020) for any app ever!
- TikTok users span 150 countries worldwide.
- TikTok was the most-downloaded app in Q1 2020 and as per the very latest reports even in May 2020, worldwide!
Remember! TikTok as a channel is still under-rated among advertisers or many didn’t get a chance to get an advertiser account.
As far as we know TikTok still limits access to agencies or very selected direct advertisers. This means the available inventory is still relatively cheap if we compare it to other channels and users do not click quite a lot. We expect this to change rather sooner than later as more and more advertisers & agencies will get whitelisted.
Get in touch if you want to kickstart your own TikTok Ads and don’t want to wait for the day when everyone else puts their budget on that channel. If you would like to read more about the possibilities of TikTok Ads vs Facebook Ads, or about TikTok as a marketing tool, take a look here:
