Dive Brief:
- TikTok is expanding its global advertising network to U.S. brands, part of a raft of announcements timed to Advertising Week New York that also features several artificial intelligence-powered features.
- On the commerce front, the app is introducing a Buy Direct tool that makes it easier to purchase a product users see in their feed without needing to leave TikTok. In addition, TikTok is debuting a conversational Shopping Assistant that keeps tabs on user needs and details like product info, shipping and sizing.
- TikTok is also bringing its automated Smart+ technology to search ads campaigns to improve relevance and performance, along with rolling out a Smart+ Creative Selection that streamlines workflows for picking the right creative assets based on a marketer’s business and campaign objectives.
Dive Insight:
TikTok’s suite of announcements focus on helping brands identify and engage the right audiences while enabling consumers to more seamlessly shop within the video-sharing app. TikTok Shop has been an early success case for scaling social commerce in the U.S., and the new bells and whistles arrive ahead of the busy holiday season.
TikTok, which started operating under a U.S. joint venture earlier this year, contributed to generating $81 billion in gross domestic product for U.S. businesses in 2025, according to a PF Global economic impact report commissioned by the social media company. Among U.S. consumers, 54 million bought a product after watching a video on TikTok, the report claims.
Along with the pair of new commerce-oriented features, Buy Direct and Shopping Assistant, the platform is launching an Agentic Leads agent that aids marketers in capturing and converting high-intent prospects. The lead-generation solution will be available in both TikTok’s direct messages interface and via lead forms on advertisers’ own websites. TikTok’s agentic commerce bets are bolstered by partnerships with payments, sales and e-commerce providers such as Salesforce, Shopify, Shoplazza and Stripe.
TikTok at the same time is expanding GMV Max, which automatically puts more spend behind well-performing content on TikTok Shop to grow gross merchandise value for merchants. GMV Max assesses costs like affiliate commissions, coupons and referral fees to improve the return on investment of campaigns.
To appeal to brands seeking broader reach, TikTok is making the TikTok Ad Network available in the U.S. for the first time. TTAN helps advertisers run campaigns on about 400,000 third-party apps globally and will sit within the existing TikTok Ads Manager, where marketers can tap into brand safety and placement controls, among other features. Ad-tech firm Integral Ad Science is supporting independent measurement for TTAN, tracking viewability, invalid traffic and brand safety.
TikTok also shared progress on offerings that intend to provide greater simplicity and flexibility for brands. A Model Context Protocol launched in May that enables marketers to connect their own agents and other AI tools directly into TikTok’s ads ecosystem has gained traction and is now linked to platforms including Claude, Kimi, Manus, Perplexity and Snowflake.
Agentic AI will be a major topic at Advertising Week this year, the show’s organizers have said. TikTok’s bigger push into the space follows rivals seeing success with their own agents. Meta’s Muse, which assists users with everyday tasks like setting up appointments, finding discounts and shopping online, has quickly become a hit, even as it has raised fresh privacy concerns around the Instagram and Facebook owner.
