Beyond Social Reshaping the Screen:
WPP Media Outlook on TikTok for growth
NAVIGATING ITALY'S FRAGMENTED VIDEO LANDSCAPE WITH WPP'S DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH
WPP Media's proprietary market analysis reveals a profound transformation within the Italian video consumption landscape, characterized by deep fragmentation and a structural shift away from traditional linear TV.
Our research positions TikTok not merely as a social media app, but as a strategic video channel that commands a massive audience of 25,2 million users and demonstrates unparalleled active engagement.
We recognizes TikTok's evolution as a critical component in modern media strategies.
This whitepaper has the aim to provide empirical evidence that integrating TikTok into traditional media plans is not a matter of substitution, but a powerful synergy.
This strategic combination generates significant incremental reach – up to 24 percentage points – and drives a remarkable increase in ROI, evidenced by a 134% growth over three years in key sectors. WPP's findings underscore TikTok's role in driving superior business outcomes.
Source: WPP Media
To capitalize on this unparalleled opportunity, WPP advises brands to adopt an integrated, data-driven planning approach. This strategic imperative enables brands to navigate complexity, optimize media investments, and unlock new avenues for growth in Italy's dynamic video ecosystem.
Contents
01 The shifting sands of Italian Media: WPP Media Market Overview
Navigating shifting consumption and investment landscapes
02 TikTok's Strategic Evolution: Beyond Social
Unpacking Its Identity as a Strategic Video Platform, Primary Entertainment Destination, Unique "Lean-In" Engagement, and Accelerating Year-Over-Year Sales Impact
03 Leveraging TikTok for Incremental Reach & Behavioural Targeting
Full-Funnel Impact: Strategic Targeting, Commerce Integration, and Incremental Reach Expansion
04 Integrated Planning is the Solution
Strategic integrated planning (forecasting, activation, measurement) transforms marketing into a predictable growth engine for fragmented markets
05 WPP Media Case Studies on TikTok’s performance in Reach and Sales
Showcasing tangible results in audience reach and sales uplift through our client successes
06 Strategic guidelines: integrating TikTok into the Italian video ecosystem
Key guidelines for TikTok’s role in a cross-screen strategy
The shifting sands of Italian Media: WPP Media Market Overview 01
TikTok does not replace television, but amplifies its strength, becoming a key ally to build coverage, engagement and business results.
The Video ecosystem in Italy: a revolution underway
The Dominance of Video
Our market observations, drawing on WPP Media deep understanding, confirm that video consumption has fundamentally reshaped the Italian media landscape, establishing itself as a central pillar of daily content engagement.
Censis, the Italian socio-economic research institute, reveals a profound societal shift: a significant 86% of the Italian population now engages with video content daily. This engagement is sustained, with Italians dedicating ten hours per day to media. Critically, our segmentation shows video content comprising 55% of this total time. This trend, analysed by WPP Media, signifies a structural transformation in daily habits, shifting video from a scheduled 'prime-time' activity to an 'always-on' companion woven throughout the day. This presents both challenges and strategic opportunities for advertisers aiming to connect with their audiences.
Source:
2025 Daily Time Spent (% - adults 18+ y.o.) 10 hours
The Orchestration challenge
As video consumption grows, advertising budgets have followed: over 52% of total spend is now dedicated to video
This transition is also driven by the shrinking efficiency of traditional media; for example, the same GRP amount on linear TV now yields 7 points less reach among Adults 25-64 than it did seven years ago.
The decline in efficiency, paired with an average of 3.2 screens per household, creates a complex landscape.
The real challenge for advertisers is no longer just where to spend, but how to orchestrate investments across channels to maximize reach, offset efficiency losses, and eliminate budget waste from overlapping audiences.
Video is the leading format in the market.
TikTok's Strategic Evolution: Beyond Social 02
TikTok: a strategic video platform, not just “another social media”
SCALE AND GROWTH
With an established audience of 25,2 million average active monthly users in Italy, TikTok has reached true mass-market scale. TikTok is no longer a niche experiment, but a mainstream reality spanning all generations and demographics. As it continues to grow rapidly, TikTok is now a fundamental pillar
25,2 Mio monthly users (AVG. Jun-Dec2025)
TikTok: User Engagement Characteristics
THE POWER OF ACTIVE INTERACTION AND BRAND ADVOCACY
TikTok's strategic value stems from its unique, high-quality user interaction, which goes beyond mere passive viewing. The platform fosters active and focused engagement, evidenced by 61% of users being more likely to like, comment, or share content (vs 53% for competitors). Furthermore, TikTok is a powerful driver for brand advocacy, with 47% of users likely to recommend brand advertising they see, making them active promoters of brands.
61%
More likely to actively engage (like, comment, share) vs. passive viewing
47% of users likely to recommend brand advertising
The "Lean-In" Experience: TikTok as a Primary Entertainment Destination
TikTok distinguishes itself by fostering a deeply "lean-in" engagement, where users dedicate focused attention to content. Its full-screen, sound-on experience is designed to command exclusive focus, positioning it as a primary entertainment destination rather than a "second screen."
This unique user behaviour is supported by compelling data:
Dedicated Attention: Users are 1.2 times more likely to be solely focused on TikTok compared to other video platforms, with 1 in 2 maintaining interest for over 15 minutes.
High Ad Fixation: Crucially, when an ad is on screen, TikTok users are fixating on it 99% of the time, compared with 76% on other platforms.
These metrics highlight TikTok's ability to capture active, high-quality user attention, making each impression inherently more valuable and impactful for brand messaging.
DEDICATED FOCUS
1.2X
More likely to be solely focused on TikTok vs. other video platforms.
1 in 2 users maintain interest for over 15 minutes.
Of the time an ad is on screen, TikTok users are fixating on it. (vs. 76% on other platforms) AD
99%
TikTok’s impact on sales grows
year over year
A great example of this is one of our Marketing Mix Models in the Retail sector.
Looking at the data from 2021 to 2024, the impact on business outcomes is undeniable: over those three years, the sales contribution from TikTok tripled, even though the level of spend remained stable. This clearly shows just how efficient the platform has become at driving value.
On top of that, the ROI for these Retail campaigns surged by 134%. It’s a remarkable jump that proves TikTok’s evolution isn't just about engagement, it translates directly into sales impact and bottomline growth.
TikTok in 3 year Index
Maximizing ROI thanks to the synergic impact of TikTok and TV
Our MMM analysis unequivocally demonstrates how the strategic integration of TikTok with traditional TV campaigns generates a significant uplift in ROI.
Across diversified sectors, such as Personal Care (+33%), Food (+30%), and Accessories (+24%) businesses realize a notable ROI increment.
This synergy underscores TikTok's capability to amplify reach, intensify engagement, and deliver measurable business impact, thereby optimizing media allocation for superior performance within a comprehensive video strategy.
Behavioural Targeting Incrementaland Reach 03
A Full-Funnel Platform: Targeting and Commerce Integration
According to WPP Media proprietary research on a panel of media experts, the Media Community Assessment (MCA), TikTok's key strength, compared to other players in the market, lies in its sophisticated ability to enable precise behavioural targeting. The platform allows advertisers to connect with users based on their real-time, tangible actions and interests such as the content they engage with, the creators they follow, and the trends they participate in. This approach, grounded in concrete signals of user intent, ensures that advertising messages are delivered with maximum relevance, dramatically increasing their potential impact.
Looking ahead, TikTok is evolving into a commerce platform, integrating e-commerce functionalities that shorten the path from content discovery to purchase directly within the app.
One year after its Italian launch, TikTok Shop reaches nearly 1 in 5 e-shoppers with a crossgenerational audience (41% over-40s vs. 32% for total ecommerce) and a strong presence of heavy shoppers, according to
According to planners, how possible is it that TikTok will become an e-commerce player in the future?
Extending
Coverage, Not Cannibalizing It
The value of TikTok lies in providing complementary reach, not audience cannibalization. As linear TV's reach declines, advertisers face challenges in reaching younger, digital-native audiences. Instead of duplicating budget, TikTok connects with a distinct audience, a highly engaged community with low overlap with viewers of other OTT platforms.
This means it doesn't just increase frequency; it actively fills coverage gaps by delivering genuinely incremental contacts to demographics that have become elusive to traditional media. The result is a more robust and effective media plan that maximizes reach by tapping into new pools of potential customers, ensuring the overall investment is more efficient.
Relative Duplication with other video players: % overlap
Source:
THE 3 MAIN MARKET CHALLENGES
AUDIENCE DISPERSION
FRAGMENTATION IN PLANNING AND ACTIVATION
RISING COSTS, DECLINING EFFICIENCY
How to recover the reach that is being lost on linear TV?
How to best leverage digital touchpoints to support a traditional TV plan?
How to create an integrated plan at a competitive cost?
Integrated Planning is the solution 04
Integrated Planning in a 3-Phases strategic approach
To effectively navigate today's fragmented market, relying on a single tool is insufficient. The solution is a comprehensive, strategic process of integrated planning, a modern framework designed to make every investment both strategic and fully accountable. This approach is structured around three critical phases:
Pre-Campaign - Forecasting: we use data and predictive analytics to model different investment scenarios, identify the optimal media mix, and establish clear KPIs before the campaign begins.
During-Campaign - Synergic Activation: we orchestrate all channels to work in concert, ensuring that each touchpoint amplifies the others to create a seamless and powerful brand message.
Post-campaign - Holistic Measurement: we use sophisticated models like Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) to measure the true, incremental contribution of each channel to core business outcomes, such as sales and ROI.
This structured process transforms marketing from a cost center into a predictable and measurable engine for business growth.
Pre-CampaignForecasting
The primary objective of the preplanning phase is to simulate the potential impact of various investment strategies before committing the budget.
Advanced analytical platforms, such as Kubik (by Mediasoft), empower planners to accurately forecast crucial metrics.
These include calculating the precise incremental reach that integrating TikTok would add to an existing TV plan and evaluating its cost-efficiency against all other market alternatives.
TIKTOK & BIG SCREEN A SYNERGY TO BOOST REACH AND COST EFFICIENCY
Source:
META ANALYSIS RESULTS
LEVERAGING TIKTOK ALLOWS FOR EXPANDED AUDIENCE REACH AND ENHANCED MEDIA PLAN COST-EFFECTIVENESS
• Incremental Reach on Big Screen: Integrating TikTok can generate an additional reach on Big Screen platforms ranging from 7 to 24 percentage points.
• CPG Saving: Significant cost efficiencies are achieved, with CPG (Cost Per Gross Rating Point) savings ranging from 7% to 48%
• Cost per reach point saving: There's also a notable saving in the cost per reach point, which ranges from 1% to 10%.
In summary, the data suggests that combining TikTok with traditional Big Screen media effectively enhances audience reach and delivers substantial
During-CampaignSynergic Activation:
BOOST ON CAMPAIGN IMPACT
The goal is to orchestrate all channels to work in perfect synergy. In a well-integrated plan, each channel plays a distinct and complementary role.
For instance, television can be leveraged to build broad, foundational awareness across a wide audience, while TikTok can be used tactically to extend reach, increase frequency against specific target demographics, and drive deeper engagement.
Crucially, the digital nature of TikTok also offers the possibility to monitor the campaign audience day-by-day, enabling real-time analysis of impacts and agile optimization throughout the campaign lifecycle.
Post-Campaign - Holistic Measurement:
Post-campaign measurement is critical for iterative planning. It allows brands to deeply understand each channel's contribution, including TikTok's, across the customer journey. A sophisticated cross-channel analysis is essential to evaluate true business outcomes.
To achieve this, our methodologies integrate advanced statistical models designed for distinct but complementary objectives:
Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM): The 360° Omni-Channel budget optimization
MMM is a key strategic tool for defining budgets and optimizing media efficiency and ROI over the mediumto-long term.
This statistical model quantifies the impact of all marketing levers on sales, providing a comprehensive view across offline and online channels. It identifies saturation points, allocates budgets, and forecasts incremental sales and ROI
Regression Based Attribution (RBA): Digital Attribution for the PostCookie Era
Multi-layered calibration process is the significant value addition
Achieving truly optimized media allocation requires more than isolated analyses; it demands a strategic synthesis of various measurement outputs. By systematically integrating the long-term, macro-level perspective from MMM with the granular, digitalspecific insights provided by RBA, and further validating these through controlled lift studies and experiments, we construct a robust and highly accurate understanding of
Source: WPP
Our proprietary RBA model offers an advanced, cookie less, and privacycompliant solution for digital attribution. Designed to optimize online budgets for conversions, RBA evaluates the aggregated performance of every digital channel and publisher, surpassing traditional 'last-click' limitations. It provides a holistic view of digital ROI across platforms like TikTok,
TikTok is more than just reach
TikTok has evolved from a mere awareness platform into a powerful driver of effectiveness throughout the entire marketing funnel, from consideration to acquisition and retention.
Despite a few seconds attention due to the way content is consumed on the platform, TikTok demonstrates an extraordinary ability to generate significant impact in just a few seconds.
TikTok's advertising experience is fundamentally designed to be highimpact: ads are full-screen, often mimic organic content and offer a nonintrusive user experience.
ATTENTION IS A “LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT”: CREATIVE BECOMES CRUCIAL
This strategic design goes beyond simply ensuring visibility and attention.
TikTok demonstrates its ability to create a strong impact and resonance with users without necessarily requiring high and prolonged levels of traditional attention.
This is possible by leveraging the platform's inherent resources to fuel user engagement and maximize the effect of advertising campaigns.
TIKTOK BUILDS STRONG IMPACT AND RESONANCE
Impact Score: combination of the uplifts on 3 brand KPIs (TOM, Spontaneous awareness, Adv recall) indexed on the average of all formats analyzed in The Attention Game study
WPP Media case Studies on TikTok’s performance in reach and sales 05
A short video strategy to elevate the brand consideration via Live Sport Events
CASE 1
SECTOR: FoodReady meal
TARGET: Adults 25-54
BRIEF:
Boost ready meal consumption during key occasions for conviviality: live sports events.
Targeting sport and football audiences with a channel mix aligned with consumption habits.
BASELINE:
A powerful Linear TV Plan of 1 week focused on sports events on key channels to engage traditional sport and football viewership.
Amplifying Campaigns with TikTok: Hype
Sustained, Reach Expanded
TikTok an ally to maintain high hype after the 1 week of the TV plan
The results: TikTok sustains campaign momentum
Source: WPP Media - Choreograph elaborations on Kubik
Linear TV and TikTok: a powerful synergy, reshaping CPG targeting across age groups
and optimizing video strategy efficiency
The relentless fusion of linear TV's traditional reach and Tiktok's dynamic innovation is revolutionizing how CPG brands connect with consumers. This crucial partnership not only shapes more precise and inclusive targeting across diverse generations but also ensures superior optimization of the entire video strategy, maximizing both impact and efficiency.
GENERATING IMPACT THAT WOULD HAVE TAKEN
Source:
Maximizing Food sales: TikTok’s superior ROI in the media Landscape
The Food sector in Italy is highly driven by Linear TV yet, but TikTok consistently demonstrates a significant capacity to drive tangible sales uplift for food products. Our analysis reveals that advertising campaigns on TikTok yield remarkable Return on Investment (ROI) figures when compared against other digital channels:
A substantial +50% ROI when benchmarked against Social platforms. This underscores TikTok's enhanced ability to effectively engage audiences and translate content consumption into purchasing decisions for food brands.
An exceptional +127% ROI when measured against Video Online platforms. This significant performance differential positions TikTok as a leading digital channel for food product advertising, indicating its unique effectiveness in fostering strong consumer connections and driving conversions within the social media ecosystem.
+50% ROI vs Social +127% ROI vs Video Online
A strategic blend of Linear TV & CTV for illuminate core audiences
CASE 2
SECTOR: Beauty
TARGET: Women 35-64
BRIEF:
Sustain awareness playing with product benefit.
Guaranteed wide coverage to sustain product visibility and capture consumer attention.
BASELINE:
Robust big screen strategy, linear TV as foundational awareness driver and CTV as contextual coverage booster.
TikTok: the effective ally for broad, balanced, and cost-effective audience reach
From linear to luminous: TikTok's contribution to broader and more balanced reach audience
TikTok: A powerful ally for expanding reach at a lower cost
Source: WPP Media - Choreograph elaborations on Kubik
Unlocking Beauty sales potential: TikTok's incremental ROI against video online
In the highly dynamic and competitive Beauty sector, TikTok consistently demonstrates a significant and measurable advantage in driving sales performance. Our comprehensive analysis reveals that campaigns executed on TikTok yield a remarkable +25% incremental ROI when directly benchmarked against Video Online channel.
Comparing performance against other Social platforms, TikTok's saturation curve demonstrates prolonged effectiveness, generating robust sales returns even with elevated investment levels. This indicates significant headroom for optimizing and expanding current budget investments to unlock further incremental growth.
100 = Video Online
Saturation Curves
TikTok Vs Video Online
Driving Skincare launch success: TikTok's role in incremental sales
During the critical phase of a new skincare product launch, understanding incremental sales dynamics and optimizing the journey from initial engagement to conversion is paramount. Our findings emphatically highlight TikTok's exceptional contribution in accelerating this process.
TikTok Vs avg. Vol+Offline
TikTok campaigns delivered a significant +23% ROI when rigorously compared against the average Volume of Offline advertising channels.
TikTok’s curve has similar shape of the Video curve but delivers higher returns at every investment level.
Index 100 = avg
TikTok Video Online Offline
FROM ENGAGEMENT TO CONVERSION
The best approach to build brand equity and drive action is to find the right media synergy
Video strategy to push Ad Recall and drive car configurations
CASE 3
SECTOR: Automotive
TARGET: Adults 18-54
BRIEF:
A recall full funnel campaign with a double goal:
1.First screen strategy for broader awareness.
2.digital (no video) and social to drive conversions via car configuration.
BASELINE:
Integrated TV and CTV plan to build broader coverage on core adults.
Why was TikTok such a good fit?
29% Of TikTok users found carrelated content and information on TikTok
34%
Of TikTok users learned something new about cars thanks to TikTok
TikTok + TV 2 Channels
1 Big Impact
TikTok: the contextual environment to rebalance overall campaign’s profile
TikTok delivered more than AD recall, driving lower funnel results
Source:
TikTok: Driving superior ROI in the Automotive Sector
In the complex and high-consideration Automotive sector, TikTok demonstrates a powerful capability to deliver substantial business impact and superior ROI across the entire marketing funnel. Our comprehensive data analysis reveals TikTok's compelling performance when benchmarked against other key digital channels.
TikTok campaigns delivered a significant +22% ROI when compared against the social ROI and achieved +180% stronger performance than Video Online.
Strategic Guidelines: Integrating TikTok into the Italian Video Ecosystem 06
The Strategic Imperative: A Summary
The New Reality
The Winning Synergy
Today's media landscape is defined by fragmented consumption and the erosion of linear TV's reach. In this context, TikTok has become a premier strategic video platform with massive, highly engaged audiences, making integration an essential strategic
Integrating TikTok with a TV plan is about amplification, not replacement. This synergy unlocks significant incremental reach (+7-24 pts), drives major cost efficiencies (up to 48% Cost Per GRP saving), and delivers a proven ROI increase of over 30% across major sectors.
ACTION PLAN
A four-step strategy to optimize media investment: Plan, Activate, Measure and Scale
PLAN
MEASURE
SCALE
Leverage Kubik (by Mediasoft) to model investments, define optimal media mix, and forecast the incremental reach and cost efficiency of TikTok -TV integration.
Orchestrate all channels synergistically to deliver a powerful brand message, leveraging TV for broad awareness and TikTok for incremental reach and deeper audience engagement
Utilize Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) to measure incremental sales ROI and Regression-Based Attribution (RBA) for cookie less digital attribution, evaluating overall performance to optimize future investments for maximum ROI.
Analyze the test data.
Once a positive, incremental ROI is confirmed, you can confidently scale your investment and establish TikTok as a structural component of your media mix.
Thank You