TikTok and the Power of Authenticity

An independent study on creative performance and audience attention across mobile advertising platforms

The study covered 11 brands spread across Retail, Sports, Quick Serve Restaurants, Beverages, and Fashion. We tested one TikTok user-generated content (UGC) video, one brand TikTok video, one Facebook video ad, and one conventional ad for each brand, for a total of 44 videos. UGC chosen were brands that were tagged to popular videos, many with over a million view counts. Videos ranged in length from five to 30 seconds, with two 60-second conventional TV ads. Each video was viewed on a mobile device by an average of 155 study participants between December 21 and December 30, 2020.