TikTok has begun shifting its advertising budget to YouTube, Pinterest and mobile-app advertising networks after Meta blocked the ByteDance-owned platform from advertising on some of its applications.
According to allocation estimates from analytics firm Sensor Tower, TikTok’s advertising share on YouTube rose to 17% between October 9 and 16, from 9% in the first week of October. Its spending on Pinterest also increased to 9% from 3% over the same period.The changes followed Meta’s decision to stop accepting advertisements from TikTok and other ByteDance properties in the United States, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam.
Meta said it did not want to “run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off our apps.” A company spokesperson described the decision as a normal business practice, saying, “Declining promotional services to a competitor is a normal business practice across industries.”Sensor Tower estimates showed that mobile-app advertising networks, including Google’s AdMob, received 58% of TikTok’s advertising spending between October 9 and 16. That was up from 19% at the beginning of October, when Meta’s platforms were still available to TikTok.
The shift could limit TikTok’s access to Meta’s more than three billion monthly users, particularly for campaigns designed to attract new users and drive app downloads. TikTok has reportedly sought additional advertising inventory from other platforms as it works to maintain its user-acquisition campaigns.Kate Black, executive vice-president of social strategy at Horizon Media, said the development reflected the intensifying competition between the two social media companies.
“For marketers, this really just reinforces the need to be agile and build balanced media strategies — and not having all your eggs in one basket,” Black said.YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat and Reddit are among the alternative platforms available to TikTok and other advertisers seeking to reach users outside Meta’s ecosystem. However, Meta’s decision could also affect brands that use its advertising tools to promote TikTok Shop or link audiences to other ByteDance-owned services.
Meta generated $117 billion in revenue during the first half of 2026, meaning the loss of a single advertiser is unlikely to materially affect its business. TikTok and ByteDance, however, have been prominent advertisers on Meta’s platforms, making the ban a significant change in the companies’ digital advertising relationship.
