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Uncertainty over TikTok's future in US drives CPMs down 80%, AdRoll Reports
TikTok's cost per mille (CPM) has dropped by a staggering 80% year-over-year, according to the Q1 2025 edition of AdRoll’s State of Digital Advertising Report. The decline reflects increasing uncertainty about the platform’s future in the U.S., prompting advertisers to scale back investments.
Meanwhile, Pinterest has emerged as a major winner, with CPMs surging 120% as brands shift budgets to more stable platforms. Meta, on the other hand, has maintained steady ad pricing, signaling consistent advertiser demand. The report, based on data from over 20,000 online businesses, offers insights into ad pricing trends, platform performance, and macroeconomic factors shaping digital marketing strategies.
Economic concerns are also shaping digital ad strategies. The U.S. consumer sentiment index fell nearly 10 points in the first two months of 2025, reflecting growing anxieties over inflation, interest rates, and potential trade policy changes under the new administration. As uncertainty looms, many advertisers are reevaluating their channel mix and adjusting budgets to optimize return on ad spend.
Beyond shifts in platform investments, the report explores emerging challenges and opportunities that will define digital advertising in 2025. The rise of AI-powered search platforms is transforming how brands approach organic and paid media strategies. As AI-driven search results provide direct answers to users, websites that once relied on search engine optimization (SEO) traffic are seeing significant declines, requiring brands to integrate paid media more strategically to maintain visibility. Meanwhile, connected TV (CTV) is gaining momentum, with 22% of marketers planning to increase CTV spend in 2025, according to AdRoll's latest customer survey—a sharp increase from 0% last year.
"Connected TV is becoming an increasingly valuable channel for brands looking to stay ahead," said George Castrissiades, connected TV strategy lead at AdRoll. "CTV offers the impact of traditional television with the precise targeting and cost efficiency of programmatic advertising. Viewers who see a CTV ad have a 23% lift in brand awareness and a 14% lift in purchase intent."
The upcoming third-party cookie consent rollout in Google Chrome is another major shift on the horizon. While there is no single replacement for third-party cookies, advertisers must start testing alternative targeting strategies, including first-party data collection, contextual targeting, and Google's Privacy Sandbox solutions, to maintain campaign effectiveness.
