TikTok is testing a new ad-free monthly subscription, with the service currently being trialed at $4.99 (£4.13) in an English-speaking market outside the US. The exact location of the test has not been disclosed by the Chinese company.
TikTok, which currently displays personalized ads for users over 18, has not confirmed a global rollout for the subscription service. TechCrunch reported that the trial is small in scale. Other platforms like YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) already offer ad-free subscriptions. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, earned an estimated $85 billion in revenue in 2022, with $9.98 billion from advertising revenue.
Meanwhile, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is considering ad-free subscriptions in the EU to comply with the bloc’s advertising rules. Users may be charged approximately €10 (£8.68) per month for an ad-free Instagram or Facebook experience on desktop and €13 per month on mobile.
Meta, following an EU ruling, has been working to gain user consent for displaying personalized ads based on their data. The company faced a €390 million fine from the Irish Data Protection Commission in January for its data handling practices. However, some experts believe that younger users accustomed to free social platforms may resist paying for ad-free experiences.
Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor at Cornell University, pointed out that users have been accustomed to considering these platforms as free services, making it unlikely that young users, in particular, would opt for paid ad-free models. Maddie Hill, a 22-year-old influencer with a significant TikTok following, also noted that TikTok ads are less intrusive and don’t significantly impact the viewing experience for users.
