UPDATE: TikTok has informed SMT that this option is not live in TikTok Ads Manager, and has not been communicated to ad partners as yet.
TikTok provided this statement on its Engaged Session test:
“We regularly experiment with a variety of features and tests to gather feedback and learn from our community, and some of the tests don't always end up as final products.”
So while it is looking into this, it’s not generally available as yet.
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TikTok’s testing a new user tracking option, which is designed to help brands measure activity outside the app, without the use of tracking pixels.
Which given past controversies around TikTok tracking people’s activity without their permission seems somewhat risky, but the idea is that this will give advertisers more data to help them understand how their TikTok promotions lead to actual product engagement and purchase.
As reported by AdWeek, TikTok has been working with selected partners on a new option called “Engaged Session,” which will enable advertisers to target users who spend at least 10 seconds on a website or retailer landing page after clicking an ad.
As per AdWeek:
“TikTok says that the new tool is designed to ‘bring high-intent users to your website’ while providing insights into engagement metrics like Total Engaged Sessions and Cost per Engaged Session, metrics that ‘align closely with third-party analytics like Google and Adobe Analytics.’”
The idea is that these users have obviously been interested enough in your products to click through, so they’re more likely to go on to make a purchase. They just might need an extra nudge in that direction, and this new option could provide an easier way to do that.
Though as noted, it does seem like a slight risk for TikTok, in terms of tracking user behavior. Various reports have suggested that TikTok tracks more user actions than other apps, while some people are still convinced that TikTok is overstepping its limits in the data that it collects from user devices.
Enabling ad targeting based on this could be a point of contention for some users, but it is fairly innocuous, and only uses basic info for retargeting.
If it becomes broadly available, Engaged Session would be made available under TikTok’s “Traffic” objective, while all TikTok ad placements will be able to use it.
As noted, TikTok is currently testing the option, with no plan as yet for a broader launch.
