TikTok ad campaigns resume in US as app comes back online—what advertisers should know

TikTok advertisers started seeing their U.S. campaigns resume on Sunday as the app came back online, sources told Ad Age. The platform had gone offline late Saturday—leaving ad traffic to plummet to zero—amid a months-long battle with the U.S. government. “Ad campaigns that include U.S. audiences will resume operating and delivering ads to U.S.-based users, although live campaigns will have certain limitations,” Blake Chandlee, president of TikTok’s global business solutions, said in a note to advertisers and agency leaders obtained by Ad Age. TikTok only remained offline for 12 hours, reappearing Sunday afternoon—not long after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order when he takes office Monday to give service providers legal cover to host TikTok. While the app started to return, it remained unavailable for new downloads but accessible to existing users. “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.” the Chinese-owned TikTok said in a statement. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans.” Also read: TikTok alternatives to keep an eye on On Sunday, Apple issued a rare statement about the status of TikTok and other ByteDance apps within its App Store in the U.S. “TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps are no longer available in the United States, and visitors to the United States might have limited access to features,” Apple’s statement said. “Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.” Apple listed the multiple ByteDance-affiliated apps no longer available for download or update in the U.S., including lifestyle app Lemon8, video-editing app CapCut, TikTok Shop and TikTok Shop Seller Center. “Some app functions might become limited or stop working since the app can’t receive updates,” Apple stated. U.S. users, and people visiting the U.S. with accounts made elsewhere, will have limited features, including an inability to make in-app purchases, Apple shared. Ad Age Tech Power List 2025 We’re looking for top digital innovators from agencies, brands, platforms, ad tech companies and tech startups Enter here The TikTok whiplash will likely offer some relief to users and brands that have grown loyal followings on the app. Advertisers had been dealing with the pending ban by planning to shift ad dollars away from TikTok and into other established platforms with short-form video, including Google-owned YouTube, Meta, and Snap. There was also momentum for advertising into Pinterest, as brands interested in social commerce started spending more there, according to Rachel Tipograph, CEO of e-commerce platform MikMak. TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, was on track to increase its ad revenue 10% to $11 billion this year, according to WARC, the marketing data and analytics firm. The app was threatened with the shutdown after the U.S. passed a law last year giving six months for its China-based owner ByteDance to divest from the company over national security concerns. As the deadline for the sale approached, which was Sunday, U.S. politicians waivered, and Trump emerged as a surprise lifeline. During his first term, Trump had pushed a ban, but this election cycle he promised to find a way to keep it running. TikTok has reached at least a temporary accord with the incoming administration. When it went dark on Saturday, TikTok’s unavailable message read: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us.” During the outage, TikTok for Business, sent an email newsletter to advertisers saying that “access to the app will be temporarily unavailable and ad campaigns targeting the U.S. will be paused until the service is restored.” TikTok mainatined the ability for advertisers to set campaigns outside the U.S., but not within it. “We’re working hard to resume TikTok’s operations to normal as soon as possible,” the note to advertisers said. Advertisers told Ad Age that the ad manager was still clunky as of midday Sunday. On Saturday night, advertisers with access to the TikTok Ad Manager were watching as the lights went out on campaigns, a moment that MikMak could track in real time. The e-commerce platform saw traffic coming from ads on TikTok rapidly drop to zero on Saturday night, Tipograph told Ad Age. In fact, traffic was dropping all week from TikTok, while traffic rose on Google properties and Pinterest, according to MikMak’s data. MikMak works with more than 2,000 brands and currently has insight into $3 billion in ad spend annually. “As of 9:59 p.m. EST yesterday (January 18), U.S. brand advertisers’ paid traffic on TikTok plummeted to 4% of total paid media traffic, an 89% drop year over year, and 33% versus fourth quarter 2024, per MikMak data,” MikMak said in an email to clients. “Our early data today also shows that TikTok brand ad traffic has now hit 0% today in the U.S. Globally, TikTok traffic is down 23% in January.” TikTok’s future is still up in the air, since the law gave the president the power to issue a 90-day extension before implementing any ban, but there were conditions in the bill that TikTok had to show progress toward a sale. “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump said in a social media post on Sunday. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.” On Sunday, TikTok started appearing for users that already had the app, but did not appear available for new download on app stores, such as Apple’s. At least, the new downloads were still disabled for the time being. The desktop website for TikTok.com was running. Service providers are singled out in the anti-TikTok bill, saying they could face civil penalties for violating the law. The cloud over TikTok comes at a crucial time for advertisers, planning campaigns for major events such as the Super Bowl, which is set for Feb. 9. Last week, Tipograph told Ad Age that MikMak expected that “partial brand advertising investment will shift back to TikTok but not all of it.” NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today

TikTok ad campaigns resume in US as app comes back online—what advertisers should know

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