IAB Tech Lab Summit: Aashish Takkala of TikTok

Summary

Marketecture Podcast Summary Episode: IAB Tech Lab Summit: Ashish Takkala of TikTok
Release Date: December 16, 2024

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of the Marketecture Podcast, host Jeremy Bloom from the Advertising Forum engages in a compelling discussion with Ashish Takkala, Product Marketing Manager at TikTok. The conversation takes place during the IAB Tech Lab Summit in London, delving deep into the nuances of attribution and measurement in the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising.

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Ashish Takkala's Role at TikTok

Jeremy opens the dialogue by exploring Ashish’s role within TikTok. Ashish explains his responsibilities, emphasizing his leadership in the go-to-market strategies for TikTok's attribution and measurement products.

Ashish Takkala [00:18]: "I lead our go to market efforts for our attribution and measurement products."

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Defining Attribution and Measurement

Ashish breaks down the concepts of attribution and measurement, elucidating their significance in assessing the efficacy of advertising campaigns on platforms like TikTok.

Ashish Takkala [00:32]: "When you run ads on a platform like TikTok, what we are showing you with our measurement reporting is what is the impact that TikTok drove in terms of your outcomes."

He further clarifies that this involves evaluating how TikTok ads influence business metrics such as sales, essentially determining the platform’s role in driving product purchases post-ad exposure or interaction.

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The Shift in Measurement Approaches: "End of the Beginning"

Jeremy introduces the theme of transformation in media measurement, prompting Ashish to elaborate on the paradigm shift from traditional methods.

Ashish Takkala [01:09]: "Short form video has seen a tremendous rise in popularity... last click measurement will not cut it anymore."

Ashish refers to this transition as "the end of the beginning," signifying the move away from last-click attribution towards more sophisticated measurement techniques that better capture the dynamics of modern, snackable content prevalent on social media.

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Measuring Performance and Engagement

The conversation shifts to the challenges and strategies in measuring the performance and engagement of video content on TikTok, amidst the vast volume of uploads.

Ashish Takkala [01:58]: "There is no one size fits all here when we think about measurement. It really depends on what the advertiser's objectives are."

Ashish highlights that key performance indicators (KPIs) vary based on advertisers' goals, whether they focus on profitability, growth, lifetime value, cost per action, or return on ad spend. TikTok's measurement solutions are tailored to align with these diverse objectives, ensuring relevance and effectiveness.

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Case Study: Large Advertiser Example

Jeremy seeks a practical example to illustrate how TikTok’s measurement tools function for large advertisers. Ashish shares a case study involving an e-commerce advertiser.

Ashish Takkala [03:12]: "This e-commerce advertiser... was always optimizing to TikTok specific things that work on the platform."

The advertiser leveraged TikTok's video-first creative approach and sought to determine whether their ad impressions were truly driving incremental conversions or merely increasing visibility without substantive impact. TikTok’s Conversion Lift tool provided clarity on the incremental value generated by their campaigns.

Ashish Takkala [03:42]: "Conversion Lift would help you understand the true incremental value that our platform drives."

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Tools for Smaller Advertisers

Addressing the needs of smaller advertisers, Ashish introduces TikTok’s Attribution Analytics tool, which is accessible to all advertisers and offers valuable conversion insights.

Ashish Takkala [03:42]: "If you're not at that scale, if you're a smaller advertiser, we do have first party tools that are free... Attribution Analytics."

This tool provides metrics such as the average time taken to convert after ad exposure, enabling smaller businesses to refine their measurement processes in line with their specific data realities.

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Regional Measurement Approaches

The discussion transitions to how TikTok standardizes its measurement approach across various regions while accommodating regional nuances and market maturity.

Ashish Takkala [05:14]: "The philosophy is the same no matter which region you're looking at. It is caring about the outcomes the advertiser cares about."

Ashish cites Southeast Asia as an example of a mobile-dominant region where TikTok’s incrementality studies are particularly valuable, contrasting it with more mature markets like the UK, where traditional channels still hold sway. This regional adaptability ensures that measurement solutions remain effective and relevant across diverse markets.

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Conclusion

As the conversation wraps up, Jeremy expresses his appreciation for Ashish’s valuable insights, underscoring the importance of evolving measurement strategies in digital advertising.

Jeremy Bloom [06:13]: "Ashish, this conversation has been awesome... Thank you for the great discussion."

Ashish reciprocates the gratitude, highlighting the collaborative efforts between TikTok, the Advertising Forum, and the IAB Tech Lab in advancing industry standards.

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Final Thoughts

This episode of the Marketecture Podcast offers a comprehensive exploration of TikTok's advanced attribution and measurement methodologies, illuminating how the platform supports advertisers of all sizes in navigating the complexities of digital marketing. Ashish Takkala's expertise provides listeners with a deeper understanding of the strategic tools and approaches essential for driving meaningful business outcomes in today’s dynamic advertising ecosystem.

For more detailed discussions and expert insights, subscribe to the Marketecture Podcast here and join their vibrant community.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Jeremy Bloom with the Advertising Forum. We are very excited to have Ashish Takawa with us. We are partnering with the IAB Tech Lab at their international summit. We are here in London right now. I am stoked for our conversation, Ashish. So first and foremost, thank you for being here with us. Tell us what your role is at TikTok.

[B]

I am a product marketing manager at TikTok. I lead our go to market efforts for our attribution and measurement products.

[A]

Attribution and measurement. I love that topic. For those that aren't as familiar in attribution and measurement, what exactly does that mean? What are you measuring?

[B]

Yeah, so when you run ads on a platform like TikTok, what we are showing you with our measurement reporting is what is the impact that TikTok drove in terms of your outcomes? So it could be the sales that you are driving for your business. So what role is TikTok playing in getting people to buy your product after they've seen the ad or they've clicked on the ad? So that's what we mean by attribution measurement.

[A]

Love it. Ashish, as you can tell, this is the end of the beginning. Nothing will be the same. What does that mean from TikTok's lens and from your lens when it comes to measurement?

[B]

Yeah, so the end of the beginning, I guess it's from a measurement perspective, it's thinking about how you measure media. Short form video has seen a tremendous rise in popularity. Storytelling is predominantly on social media today in the form of snackable content. So if you think of how advertisers measure that form of content, last click measurement will not cut it anymore. So I'll call it the end of last click measurement and the beginning of a new way of measuring. And we're looking forward to working with advertisers and agencies to evolve how they think about media measurement.

[A]

Love that answer. In your role, how do you approach the measuring, performance and engagement of actual video content? There are billions of videos that are being uploaded. Which metrics do you consider to be the most critical to brands and marketers?

[B]

Yeah, great question. I guess there is no one size fits all here when we think about measurement. So it really depends on what the advertiser's objectives are. There could be advertisers that are more focused on profitability. There could be advertisers that are focused on growth. So depending on the advertiser's maturity and where they are in their growth journey, the KPIs that they care about, the outcomes that they care about are different and our solutions are targeting the actual outcomes that advertisers care about. So it could be lifetime value, it could be efficiency, so cost per ads, cost per action, or it could be total revenue, so return on ad spend that we are driving for them. So those are some of the top KPIs that we see advertisers caring about on our platform in terms of measurement solutions that you would get us, that would get advertisers to that spot. If you're a large advertiser, Conversion Lift is our flagship measurement product. We recommend that as. Yeah.

[A]

So on that though, if you're a large advertiser, if you're looking for conversion, so help us understand large advertiser being. Give us an example. Are you able to provide an example of a large advertiser or what their specific vertical by chance?

[B]

Yeah, sure. So this E commerce advertiser that we worked with over last year, what they always did on our platform very well was optimizing to TikTok specific things that work on the platform. So this is leaning into video first creative, that is TikTok first leaning into optimizations and making your campaigns work better. But the one lingering question they always had was are these incremental conversions or is TikTok just showing more impressions to people and hoping for conversions?

[A]

That's a great question.

[B]

So that's where a tool like Conversion Lift would help you understand the true incremental value that our platform drives. And we highly recommend that to any advertiser that is comfortable with the idea of experimentation and learning through incremental outcomes. Now if you're not at that scale, if you're a smaller advertiser, we do have first party tools that are free. So if you run ads on TikTok today, you can see reporting that gives you more conversion insight through a tool called Attribution Analytics. This is available to all advertisers as of a few months ago. We're really excited about this because it fits, you know, advertisers, it fits the bill for any advertiser, no matter what the size. And what this helps you understand is, you know, things like what is the average time it takes to convert. So after an ad exposure, how long do people wait before they buy the product? Now those type of insights, especially when you look at those insights for your specific business, really open the door for you to think about how you are doing measurement today and how you need to evolve that process in order to reflect to the reality that we are seeing with Data.

[A]

So with TikTok doing the measurement across all different kinds of advertisers. Are you finding any discrepancies or variances when as we're talking before we recorded started recording, you're across many different nations and countries and you have advertisers everywhere. Is there a a standardized measurement approach that TikTok takes for all across different regions?

[B]

Yeah, great question. I guess the philosophy is the same no matter which region you're looking at. It is caring about the outcomes the advertiser cares about. So it's being on the same page as the advertiser and optimizing to those outcomes but talking about regional nuances. I guess it really depends on market maturity for sure. Like Southeast Asia for example, mobile is the dominant that whole region grew up on mobile. They skipped the whole desktop revolution. So if you think about markets like that, there is slight differences in how or which measurement products make more sense for those markets because last click is not that much of a problem there. They're all advertising on TikTok shop and seeing a lot of value with incrementality studies versus in a more mature market like the UK for example. The last six channels still are thriving in this market. So getting the market to understand why it's limited and proposing one of our measurement solutions is how we're tackling it.

[A]

Ashish, this conversation has been awesome. On behalf of the Advertising Forum and the IAB Tech Lab, thank you very much. Thank you for coming here. Thanks for the great discussion.

[B]

Thank you for having me.

[C]

Thanks thank you for listening to the Marketcture podcast. New episodes come out every Friday and an insightful vendor interview is published each Monday. You can subscribe to our library of hundreds of executive interviews at Markitecture tv. You can also sign up for free for our weekly newsletter with my original strategic insights on the week's news at News Market tv. And if you're feeling social, we operate a vibrant Slack community that you can apply to [e-mail].