A new ad product test was spotted on TikTok โ€“ TechCrunch

What happened: The US app of short video platform TikTok was found to be testing a native video advertisement that links users to the advertiserโ€™s website. A โ€œLearn Moreโ€ button in the ad video enables users to open the profile page of an advertiser named โ€œSpecialized Bikes.โ€ The blue check mark next to the advertiserโ€™s username, which is different from the yellowish-orange ones that appear on popular creatorsโ€™ and official accountsโ€™, suggests that advertisers have a different kind of account. Several glitches indicate that the video ad is still being tested.

Why itโ€™s important: This is the latest advertising-related experiment by the Bytedance-owned app. Prior to this video ad, the only public test in the US or UK was an app launch pre-roll ad, according to TechCrunch. While advertiser accounts have been present in Douyinโ€”TikTokโ€™s sister app in Chinaโ€”for almost a year, theyโ€™ve only just appeared in TikTok. The appearance of an advertiserโ€™s account, together with video ads that direct users to it, could mean that Bytedance is ready to up its monetization game in markets outside of China.

Tony Xu is Shanghai-based tech reporter. Connect with him via e-mail: tony.xu@ovau.ip-ddns.com

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