After its US launch in September, TikTok Shop faces its first holiday season, heating up competition in the social commerce space.

Amazon turns to Meta, Snap partnerships to keep TikTok at bay: As the retailer moves in on social commerce, TikTok is beefing up its supply chain.

TikTok isn’t solely driven by its famous algorithm: ByteDance employees can make posts go viral without any disclosures.

TikTok’s magic is no longer in its mystery. The illusion of TikTok content being personalized for users through an all-powerful algorithm is fading. Two weeks ago, Forbes reported TikTok’s use of a secret “heating” tool. But TikTok’s heating controversy doesn’t mean marketers should immediately retreat to Instagram Reels. Rather, they should think of TikTok and Reels as two different tools.

TikTok offers a teen time limit as US ban talks boil over: Talk of serious action is heating up, and TikTok is waving olive branches to prevent the worst.

Since its launch in September 2023, over 11% of US households have purchased items via TikTok Shop, according to data from a recent Earnest Analytics’ report, which analyzed credit card transaction data to learn more about TikTok Shop users.

TikTok is competing with just about everyone, according to our analyst Jasmine Enberg. Its lower costs per thousand are helping it pull ad share away from platforms like Meta, while its appeal to Gen Z consumers is pulling search dollars away from Google and Amazon. But it can play nice too, a strategy the platform has had to adopt in Washington to avoid a total US ban.

While the revelation about its “heating” button wasn’t great optics, there’s no question that TikTok is still a breeding ground for video-focused creators, many of whom now command audiences equal to or larger than those of Instagram or YouTube creators. YouTube’s rollout of ad revenue sharing for Shorts will keep it competitive.

On today's episode, we discuss whether social media in the future will become less social or if it will go away altogether, what the streaming wars' battle royale looks like, how easy it would be to replace Twitter and TikTok, how people think their demographics are portrayed in ads, the fight for the car screen, where Americans have moved in the last 10 years, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of reports editing Rahul Chadha, analyst Blake Droesch, and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

Chinese phone-makers such as Honor and Xiaomi are heating up the competition for affordable, innovative devices. “It is going to compel companies like Samsung and Apple to develop their own foldable phones,” Wurmser said. Impact of the prediction:. More mobile apps may take advantage of the growing number of consumers able to have multiple windows appear on-screen.

Amazon remains the top product search channel for consumers, but it’s starting to lose ground to social platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. It’s taking steps to address the rising competition by working with influencers and launching a new TikTok-like in-app shopping feed, Inspire, that supports images and videos. But Amazon still dominates US ecommerce.

Meanwhile, privacy enforcement is heating up, but advertisers aren’t prepared for new legislation. Big changes in content moderation could result from US Supreme Court decisions. And Amazon’s competitors in the retail media space are beefing up their offerings. Digital Ad Spending Downgraded Amid Economic Instability. Advertisers are scrutinizing their budgets.

In 2021, Shopify introduced TikTok Shopping in the US, which allows Shopify merchants with a TikTok for Business account to create shopping tabs that showcase their products and link directly to their online stores. This capitalizes on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend that is driving more D2C brands to focus on TikTok and broadens merchant reach among TikTok’s fast-growing Gen Z audience.