TikTok should be seen as an upper-funnel channel, says a new report that found brands using the platform saw a 247% increase in incremental impact in the second half of campaigns.
The findings come from new analysis by measurement company Haus, covering hundreds of incrementality experiments run over a 2.5 year period. It shows that early lift among TikTok campaigns is often modest, but momentum builds. On average, brands noted the 247% increase in incremental impact during the second half of tests and a further 68% lift during the post-treatment window.
The report says: ‘This effect closely resembles similar behaviours we’ve seen on channels like YouTube, which suggests brands may want to think about TikTok as something closer to a top-of-funnel channel, rather than, say, Meta, where effects are near-immediate and capture existing demand in the market’.
TikTok is Haus’ third-most tested advertising channel, sitting just behind Google and Meta. But unlike those mature platforms, TikTok budgets remain unusually volatile. The report says that week-to-week spend swings far more than on comparable search or social channels, suggesting brands are still trying to locate the sweet spot where TikTok delivers efficient marginal returns.
Across the brands that ran at least three experiments on TikTok, most began with around 11% of their search and social budget on the platform. Strong early results typically pushed that towards 15%, before long-term optimisation settled at 13%. The changes sound small, but at portfolio level they represent multimillion-dollar reallocations and big differences in efficiency.
The pattern intensifies around seasonal or promotional periods. Experiments that looked flat in the first week often surged once a brand entered a sale window. TikTok warms up demand, then captures it efficiently when consumers are primed to convert.
TIkTok also has a ‘halo’ effect, with the platform having a ‘demonstratable impact’ on omnichannel sales. It delivers 1.9x as much value when brands look at its omnichannel impact rather than DTC alone. On average, the platform drove an additional 34% of sales to Amazon and 57% of sales to physical retail.
The Haus analysis also found that TikTok is ‘reasonably balanced’ between attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Across experiments it found 62% of TikTok-driven lift drives against new customer KPIs.
Not every advertiser can scale TikTok, but the ones who do tend to share traits. Haus states that brands successfully using the platform tend to target Gen Z or younger millennials with lower-consideration products that can be communicated via short, simple clicks. It also helps if their business model allows for low-friction onboarding or free trials.
Haus recommends that each brand experiments with TikTok efficiency itself, but it does offer a few pointers for how marketers can act on these findings:
- Match TikTok’s strengths to your business
- Plan for delayed impact
- Pair TikTok with promotions
- Optimise for omnichannel lift
- Convert curiosity
Image generated with Google Gemini
