TikTok Super Users’ Favorite Brands
Key Takeaways
The brand with the largest differentiation in net favorability between daily TikTok users and the general population is, naturally, TikTok itself with a 72.9 point favorability gap.
Should the ban go into permanent effect, these users’ attention will migrate to other social platforms, with Snapchat and Instagram as likely leaders, given their similarly differentiated among daily TikTok users.
The remaining standout brands show that daily TikTok users have stronger favorability for vices like tobacco, energy drinks, and gambling.
The recent TikTok whiplash that saw U.S. users were locked out of the app for less than a day was wildly disruptive to those who spend a lot of time on the platform. The fear of the ban led to many creators posting farewell videos and discussing where they would begin posting next, without much consensus.
Should the full ban go into effect after President Trump’s 75-day extension, TikTok’s most ardent users will have a void to fill, myriad content creators will lose a significant source of income, and advertisers will lose access to the millions of U.S.-based eyeballs that engage with the app’s venerated algorithm.
To understand the impact of the potential ban on consumer brands, we used Morning Consult’s Intelligence platform to analyze the standout brands among those who use TikTok at least daily. These are the brands with the largest difference in net favorability between daily TikTok users, and the U.S. general population. The daily user group is overrepresented among Gen Z adults and millennials, women and urban dwellers, but these brands don’t automatically map to the overall preferences of these demographics.
Daily TikTok users’ standout brands reveal a bias to vices
For those who use TikTok daily (including those who say they’re in the app several times a day), the brands with the largest net favorability differentiation show that these TikTokers embrace what’s bad for them. TikTok itself, naturally, earned the top spot on this list.
Time on TikTok can be well spent or not. As the initial deadline for the ban approached, users bemoaned the loss of niche communities and virtual friendships that wouldn’t inherently translate to another platform. But, many also said they were hopeful the loss of the distraction would lead them to more productive pursuits, like reading or going to the gym. That remains to be seen, given the consumer profile that emerges from the remaining standout brands.
TikTok Daily Users’ Top 20 Standout Brands
For all of the discussion about which social media platforms stand to gain the most viewership from a TikTok ban, Snapchat and Instagram are likely contenders given their differentiated favorability.
The remaining brands on the standout list paint a picture of a consumer who is spending a lot of time in front of screens. Many of these brands, like the energy drinks, tobacco products, food and fashion brands are pervasive in organic content. Gen Zers also show strong interest in financial products and opportunities to get ahead financially with investments in cryptocurrency or sports gambling, though the latter is less likely to be recommended by financial influencers.
All of the brands on this list with the exceptions of Bitcoin and Philip Morris, Purdue Pharma and Meta have a presence on the app (though Meta maintains TikTok profiles for Facebook, Instagram and other products), and have earned outsized favorability from some of the most digitally engaged consumers. Whether they’re encountering a paid ad, catching a brand’s appearance in organic videos or just going about their lives, these users have an affinity for scrolling, caffeine, and the chance to get rich quick.
