TikTok built its popularity by becoming a place where culture happens, from viral songs and creator trends to fashion, entertainment, and sports. TikTok is turning that influence into a more sophisticated advertising business, too. New premium ad formats let brands buy into high-interest moments and conversations, while partnerships with FIFA, the NBA, and the WNBA put advertisers alongside the content fans consume around major sporting events. At the same time, TikTok is expanding the targeting, measurement, and performance capabilities marketers expect from a major media channel.
The combination gives TikTok an increasingly broad pitch to advertisers, and the dollars are following. TikTok is expected to generate approximately $18 billion in U.S. advertising revenue in 2026. Brands can reach people around the content they already consume while gaining more control over where their ads appear and more evidence of what those ads accomplish.
Sports Puts TikTok’s Advertising Strategy on Display
The 2026 FIFA World Cup demonstrated the scale of what can happen when TikTok becomes part of a major sporting event. TikTok served as FIFA’s first Preferred Platform, with official broadcasters livestreaming portions of matches and publishing more than 107,000 posts during the tournament. Thirty Creator Correspondents from 22 countries received access that allowed them to bring fans behind the scenes. World Cup-related content generated 1.2 trillion views globally, while official broadcaster livestreams attracted 660 million unique views. Fans also visited TikTok’s World Cup hubs 520 million times.
For advertisers, all that activity created more opportunities to reach fans while their attention was focused on the World Cup. TikTok gave brands access to an enormous audience following the tournament across livestreams, creator coverage, highlights, and dedicated World Cup hubs. Official World Cup broadcasters could also monetize their TikTok coverage through the platform’s premium advertising products.
NBA and WNBA Agreement Opens up More Advertising Opportunities
TikTok didn’t stop with the World Cup. In July, the company announced a multi-year global partnership with the NBA and WNBA that will bring more highlights, behind-the-scenes access, and creator coverage to the platform. The agreement gives advertisers a more specific way to reach basketball fans through Pulse Premiere. Advertisers can already use TikTok’s standard ad products to target people interested in basketball. With Pulse Premiere, a brand can instead buy placement directly after eligible NBA and WNBA videos, reaching fans at the moment they are watching material from the leagues. TikTok can also help move those fans toward live viewing. During the 2026 NBA Finals, the NBA Finals Search Hub generated 426,000 referrals through the NBA’s Tap to Watch feature.
Sports fans give advertisers access to far more than game coverage. Fans experience sports through everything happening around the competition. A game produces creator reactions and player stories. It sparks arguments, memes, fashion moments, and behind-the-scenes content that can travel far beyond the audience watching live. Each gives advertisers another opportunity to reach people following the event. A brand can appear alongside pregame content, creator and league posts as interest builds, and information that helps fans find the live broadcast.
TikTok Is Connecting Attention to Results
TikTok’s ability to attract audiences around sports, entertainment, and creators, gives advertisers a reason to spend money on the platform. Keeping those dollars requires evidence of what happens after someone sees an ad. TikTok has spent 2026 strengthening that side of its advertising business with tools designed to improve campaign performance and help marketers understand how TikTok contributes to a purchase.
At TikTok World 2026, the company expanded Smart+, its automated performance advertising product. Auto Selection chooses among creator content, product assets, and other available creative based on expected performance, while an AI-powered campaign summary evaluates results and recommends changes. TikTok expanded Market Scope with industry context, aggregated purchasing behavior, and creative insights that help marketers evaluate how audiences move from discovery toward purchase.
What Advertisers Should Take From TikTok’s 2026 Success
TikTok is making a play for both brand and performance budgets. Its premium formats give advertisers access to high-interest moments, while Smart+, Market Scope, and other tools give marketers more ways to manage campaigns and evaluate results. Those capabilities broaden the role TikTok can play in a media plan.
The FIFA, NBA, and WNBA partnerships also offer a lesson for brands outside sports. TikTok builds advertising around the interests, creators, communities, and events people already follow on the platform. Brands can take the same approach by developing creative for the specific communities they want to reach and choosing ad products that place it alongside the content those audiences already consume.
True Interactive helps brands determine where TikTok fits within their paid media strategy and how to use the platform’s growing advertising capabilities to achieve measurable results. Learn more about our paid social capabilities on our website.
Photo source: Alexander Shatov
