Marketers are calmer about TikTok’s future in the U.S. — even as its ads team thins out

Just weeks ago, the mood among marketers was one of mild crisis. The prospect of a TikTok-less future — unthinkable yet suddenly plausible — had them sketching out fallback plans, hedging bets and recalibrating campaigns. But as the April 5 deadline looms, when TikTok must find a non-Chinese buyer or risk being banned on national security grounds, the panic has curiously subsided.

In its place is something more measured: a composed, almost serene confidence, bolstered, perhaps, by recent meetings with TikTok reps who are still standing. Despite a noticeable thinning of the app’s advertising ranks in recent weeks, those who remain have done their best to project business-as-usual, even as the ground beneath them continues to shift.

“TikTok said they were ‘feeling very optimistic’ about their future in the U.S., but could not share any additional information on what will happen,” said one ad exec, who each exchanged anonymity for candor on their discussions with the platform in the U.S. 

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