Advertisers bumped up their TikTok spending 20-40% over the summer months as they worked to tempt consumers to open up wallets during the annual back-to-school sales period.
“From July and August year over year, TikTok spend is up about 20%,” said Jack Johnston, vp, social innovation and growth at Tinuiti, without providing exact figures. TikTok’s share of overall social spending by Tinuiti clients increased 55% between July and August, he added.
The back-to-school sales period, which traditionally runs between late July and early September, is a major sales event. According to PwC, students and families will typically spend $922 on products related to school or college and 47% of households expect to increase their outlay. This year, advertisers began spending and staging promotions earlier than before.
“Spending on TikTok for this campaign was a non-negotiable. It’s a period when consumers are spending significant time on the platform, and brands are competing heavily for attention,” said Geoffrey Goldberg, co-founder and chief creative officer, Movers+Shakers, the agency behind the brand’s campaign; he didn’t share Hilton’s precise media mix.
For some clients, higher spending on TikTok has been prompted by an increase in sales through TikTok Shop.
According to NielsenIQ figures, TikTok Shop sales rose 84% between March 2025 and February of this year; the company placed TikTok Shop as the fourth largest retailer of health and beauty products in the United States, by annual sales. And eMarketer estimates sales will increase 48% over the course of 2026.
David Dweck, president at Go Fish Digital, said that TikTok spending increased 41% year on year among brand clients, while the number of advertisers using the channel during the back-to-school period rose 160%. “In terms of sales volume the last two years, we’re seeing it now right behind Amazon,” he told Digiday.
The agency’s clients, he said, were moving their budget into TikTok because other e-commerce environments like Walmart and Amazon had become saturated for brands. “Once they max spend on Amazon and Google, they want to start going into TikTok Shop… a lot of our advertisers are trying to find white space,” he said.
Read the full article here.