TikTok Courts App Marketers in Southeast Asia with Full-Funnel Strategy Shift
Southeast Asia is rapidly becoming a key battleground for app marketing spend, and TikTok is positioning itself as the dominant platform. With surging usage and advertising revenues across the region, TikTok is actively courting app marketers, pushing them beyond a reliance on performance marketing and towards a more holistic, full-funnel approach.
At its inaugural Apps Summit in Hanoi last week,TikTok showcased user engagement metrics and highlighted a significant shift in how apps are being used across Southeast Asia – a change that underscores the platform’s growing importance to the advertising landscape.”TikTok is increasingly becoming the home of app advertising,” stated Nikhil Rolla, who leads Strategic Accounts for Southeast Asia and TikTok’s buisness in Malaysia. he pointed to the rising prominence of verticals like travel, local services, and finance, alongside the traditionally dominant gaming sector.
Data from Sensor Tower indicates a pivotal moment for the region: in 2025, non-gaming mobile apps are projected to surpass gaming in both ad spending and downloads for the first time. This broadening of the app market necessitates a corresponding evolution in marketing strategies. TikTok has seen a dramatic increase in app clients over the past year, with these advertisers experiencing an 87% growth in return on ad spend thanks to significant investments in AI-powered ad tools focused on optimization, targeting, bidding, delivery, and reporting.
TikTok’s ambition now extends beyond simply driving downloads. the platform aims to support the long-term success of apps after installation,fostering engagement and sustained growth. “A lot of app marketers have a performance marketing mindset, and results-driven marketing is [a natural way] they should think,” Rolla explained. “We’re also trying to educate apps to think about performance in a more holistic way.” Several established apps have already recognized this need, transitioning from a sole focus on performance to a full-funnel strategy centered on demand generation.
Travel and experiences app Klook serves as a prime example. Reaching a primarily millennial and Gen Z audience (70-80% mobile),Klook requires content that cultivates interest and consideration,rather than solely focusing on transactional offers like discounted flights. “In the first few years of growth, just like any startup company, we were always chasing growth,” said Marcus Yong, Klook’s VP of global marketing. “That means over-indexing on demand capture, so everything was about last-click ROAS. But after a while, especially in mature markets you realize you’re not really growing the pie, just cannibalizing the same pie.”
To address this, Klook launched its first mid-to-upper funnel brand campaign earlier this year, “The Best You,” featuring Netflix star Marie Kondo.
Tok’s response to this challenge is to emphasize its superior engagement levels compared to other platforms in Southeast Asia, according to SensorTower data. The platform’s message is clear: “if you can’t beat us,join us.”
However, success on TikTok requires a commitment to authentic content, a challenge for many marketers accustomed to strategic planning and data-driven campaigns.Rolla acknowledged that this is a recurring concern raised by marketers across all sectors. “It’s absolutely the right question to ask because as a brand you want to blend into that user-generated content as seamlessly as possible.”
The key,according to Liu,lies in shifting the creative process to a younger demographic. “I think it’s really critically important that when you’re making these TikTok videos, you’re not going in ther with a mind of people like us business guys who’s like, how can I get the most users? How can I get the most views? How can I get the best ROI?” Liu explained. “You want a young person saying: ‘Hey, I want to make a cool video. I want to engage with my friends. I want to engage with people like me who love this content. Then you will get your views.”
Ultimately, TikTok is not just selling ad space; it’s offering a new paradigm for app marketing in Southeast Asia – one that prioritizes authentic engagement and a holistic understanding of the customer journey.
