The TikTok Discount Is Narrowing

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📉 TikTok's cost advantage is real. It's also shrinking, and most plans don't account for that

TikTok CPM fell 28.48% year over year to $4.08, according to a benchmark report covering nearly 6,000 brands over the trailing twelve months.

That's still meaningfully cheaper than Meta's overall median CPM of $15.06. The report's own framing is the part worth sitting with: TikTok's reputation as the cost-efficient alternative to Meta and Google is being tested, because even as the absolute number fell, the gap between platforms has moved further from parity in the comparison that actually matters for planning.

Most media plans still carry an assumption about TikTok's cost advantage that was set whenever someone last checked, often a year or more ago, and treated as durable since.

A number that was true last year isn't automatically true this year, and a plan built on a stale gap either underinvests in TikTok because the advantage looks smaller than it is, or overcommits because the advantage looks bigger than it actually is right now.

Pull your own trailing twelve months before trusting an industry average

An industry-wide benchmark is a starting point, not a substitute for your account's actual numbers, since CPM varies significantly by vertical, audience, and creative format in ways a blended average smooths over.

Compare your own TikTok and Meta CPM trends over the same trailing period the benchmark report covers.

If your gap has moved in a different direction than the industry number, that's more informative than the industry number itself, since it's telling you something specific about your account rather than the category average.

Rebuild the media-mix case on the current gap, not last year's

A budget split between TikTok and Meta that was justified by a wider cost gap a year ago may not be justified by today's narrower one, even though TikTok remains the cheaper platform in absolute terms.

Recalculate what the current gap actually implies for optimal spend allocation, rather than defending a ratio set when the numbers looked different. The direction of the trend, cost advantage narrowing, matters as much as the current snapshot for planning the next few quarters.

Treat CPM benchmarks as a quarterly check, not a one-time input

A number this dynamic, moving nearly 30% in a single year, isn't stable enough to set once and revisit occasionally.

Build a standing quarterly comparison into your reporting cadence rather than waiting for a vendor's benchmark report to prompt the check.

And if your account doesn't have twelve months of TikTok data to compare against Meta, no benchmark report is going to settle the question for you. You need your own numbers, which means spending enough to generate them.

TikTok for Business is currently matching that: spend $500 and get $500 in free ad credits, which makes the first read on your own CPM cost half what it otherwise would You can claim the credit here.

The platform is still cheap. Whether it's cheap enough to justify last year's budget split is a different question, and it's worth answering with this year's numbers.

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📈 Instagram and LinkedIn just dropped some useful clues for marketers

Instagram is explaining what actually helps content travel, while LinkedIn’s analysis of more than 50,000 closed B2B deals across 850 organizations shows why marketers may be entering the buying journey too late.

The Breakdown:

Instagram Rewards Fresh Originals - Originality and recency are major ranking signals. Instagram also tests posts from smaller public creators with non-followers, giving strong content a chance to break beyond an existing audience.

Engagement Beats Big Numbers - Mosseri says creators should watch engagement rates rather than obsessing over total views or likes. Trial Reels can also help test new ideas without relying on what worked last week.

B2B Buyers Start 124 Days Early - LinkedIn’s data shows buying groups begin researching solutions around 124 days before speaking with a seller, making early visibility important long before a lead enters the CRM.

One Decision Has Many People - Reaching 6+ contacts before a deal enters the CRM lifted win rates by 17 percentage points, yet 76% of LinkedIn ad spend currently targets director-level roles. Paid ads paired with organic LinkedIn activity also produced 2.4x higher win rates than paid alone.

Both platforms are pointing marketers beyond the obvious numbers. On Instagram, fresh original content and meaningful engagement can matter more than raw reach. On LinkedIn, the opportunity starts months before the sales conversation and extends beyond the person with “Director” in their title.

👨‍💻 Quick Hits

🛒 Shopify is letting browser-based AI agents complete purchases on merchant sites, allowing them to update addresses and delivery options and submit checkout, including through Shop Pay, after receiving the buyer’s authorization.

🤖 Meta is inviting users to apply for early access to advanced Muse features, as its AI agent approaches 3 million downloads and expands toward handling tasks like emails, phone calls, planning, and scheduling.

🛡️ Microsoft Advertising has opened Excluded Content Terms to all advertisers, letting brands block up to 1,000 page-title terms at the account or campaign level to control where their ads appear.

🛍️ Adobe expects U.S. online holiday sales to hit a record $275.1 billion in 2026, with Cyber Week generating $47.5 billion and AI-driven retail traffic surging 130% year over year.

🥳 Events 

🔥 What 3 Million Citations Reveal About Winning AI Shortlists

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October 21 | Online | Free Festival

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