“We will prevail,” insists TikTok exec as ITV and C4 join Pulse Premiere

“It’s business as usual in the UK.”

Kris Boger, TikTok's general manager for the UK and Ireland, said The media guide that the company has seen no impact on the UK market despite the US government passing a law that would force ByteDance to divest from the app or face a ban.

Ahead of TikTok's numerous presentations at Advertising Week Europe in London this week, Boger reiterated that “we in the US have the facts on our side and will ultimately prevail.”

Boger noted that the company has invested billions in protecting European user data through an initiative in Ireland called “Project Clover,” and announced that another data center in Norway “will be operational by the end of this year.” .

“We think, that [the efforts are] Industry leaders in the work they do around privacy and the work we do to keep our community safe. And when we talk to advertisers about these things, they really resonate.”

As such, TikTok's focus in the UK remains on expanding opportunities for advertisers, rather than taking a seemingly defensive stance in response to political pressure in the US. This week the company announced the addition of two British broadcasters – ITV and Channel 4 – to its Pulse Premiere program, TikTok's “highest quality” advertising solution.

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Pulse Premiere is one of TikTok's contextual advertising solutions. While a comparable solution, simply called Pulse, allows brands to purchase ad space immediately after playing content in the top 4% of trending videos on the platform, Pulse Premiere allows advertisers to purchase their ads immediately after playing premium publishers. Place content in TikTok’s “For You” feed.

TikTok had previously signed Pulse Premiere deals with Sky Sports and Condé Nast. The addition of ITV and Channel 4 means the UK's three major commercial broadcasters are now involved in TikTok's advertising role, just in time for coverage of this summer's Olympics and the UEFA European Championships.

In February, TikTok also partnered with Team GB and ParalympicsGB for the 2024 Paris Games.

“We are an entertainment platform…we want our community to be able to enjoy the entertainment from these publishers,” Boger said. “… [the Olympics and the Euros] will be things that everyone will talk about.”

Boger said the feature improves advertising effectiveness, citing internal research that found Pulse increases ad recall by 11% and brand awareness by 6% compared to non-premium inventory. It also gives brands more control over where their ads appear in the algorithmically sorted For You feed.

Publishers in the Pulse Premiere program receive a share of revenue from advertising placed alongside their content. Boger, however, declined to reveal the terms of the revenue-sharing agreement.

From “Why TikTok?” to “How TikTok?”

Boger admitted that Pulse Premiere is also an important aspect of brand safety.

He said The media guide: “For Pulse Premiere and even beyond, a lot of this has to do with the adjacency of content and the fear that a screenshot will be taken or appear to be related to content that the advertiser is not happy with. “

Boger argued that Pulse Premiere offers the positive benefits of content adjacency by playing ads directly after premium, brand-safe content. He also noted that TikTok is unique compared to its competitors because the videos on the app load individually in full-screen mode, meaning brand ads cannot be screenshotted for potentially harmful or otherwise brand-unsafe content.

“Any security concerns across the platform will be mitigated to some extent this way,” he offered.

Boger added that such brand safety concerns — while still a top priority for TikTok — don't appear to be a major concern for TikTok's advertisers.

“You would be surprised,” Boger said. “It’s actually no longer an issue.”

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He explained that brand safety is a question of “why TikTok.” – whether a brand should be on the platform or not. “What we’re seeing is that advertisers have gotten past this now,” Boger continued. “The question they ask us is: 'How 'Tick tock?'”

He pointed to partnerships TikTok has struck with “the most sensitive advertisers.” [to brand safety]” such as P&G and Unilever, which he called a success, a way in which the conversation with advertisers appears to have moved beyond the concerns typically raised by politicians about the alleged dangers associated with the platform.

Ongoing concerns

Despite Boger's confidence, TikTok and its social media competitors still remain under pressure – if not from advertisers, then from politicians and voters concerned about social media's harmful effects on young people and democracy.

Boger emphasized TikTok's stance not only on privacy and brand safety, but also on consumer safety in general. For example, he explained that the company is taking the debate about whether its users can become addicted to the short-video app “really seriously.” By default, TikTok sets a 60-minute time limit for users who say they are under 18. However, this can be overridden by using a passcode.

According to Boger, such a policy is an “example of something we have done voluntarily to ensure that the experience on TikTok is fun, fulfilling and enriching, and allows people to discover new forms of entertainment.”

Recently, the company announced that it would automatically label AI-generated content created on other platforms to address concerns about misinformation and disinformation in an election year. Broadly speaking, Western politicians have raised additional concerns about TikTok's potential to influence its predominantly younger audience.

While questions about TikTok's opaque algorithms likely remain as trusted publishers join Pulse Premiere or otherwise increase their investment in video production, the company appears to understand the importance of trust, at least for the sake of advertisers.

Boger added: “Solange [the community] Once it’s there and we have the security controls in place, we’re really optimistic about the future.”

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