TikTok is phasing out its Creator Marketplace in favor of a new, more comprehensive platform, according to an email sent by the company to businesses and creators. The existing online platform facilitated connections between brands and creators for collaborations on advertisements and sponsorships. Starting Saturday, TikTok will cease allowing creator invitations or the creation of new campaigns within the Marketplace. The platform will be fully shut down on April 1st, with the website redirecting visitors to the new TikTok One creative platform.
Though the standalone Creator Marketplace is being discontinued, TikTok will continue to provide avenues for brands and creators to connect through TikTok One. The platform aims to provide video creators with resources such as trend analysis, research capabilities, and the opportunity to connect with experts to create “native-looking” videos for ad campaigns. The site includes a trend tracker that highlights top trends, user-generated content, creators, hashtags, and songs. It offers tips on utilizing TikTok’s creative tools, ad products, and business accounts.
TikTok One also incorporates AI-enabled features. For instance, the Video Generator tool, which provided an online video editor for uploading videos and adding music, will be discontinued. According to TikTok’s website, the tool will no longer be available on the TikTok Creative Center as of Friday. Users are being redirected to TikTok’s AI-powered Symphony Creative Studio, where marketers can access the Symphony Assistant. This AI assistant can summarize trends, generate native TikTok scripts, brainstorm ideas, and more. Marketers can also use AI inputs to create TikTok-style videos, potentially remixing existing brand footage or employing digital avatars to promote products. Videos can be enhanced with captions, voices, music, stickers, and localized for different languages.
The Symphony features extend to TikTok’s Ads Manager, where marketers can create and optimize ads with minimal input from the user. The platform also offers a Script Generator, which can create a TikTok video script based upon information entered by the advertiser, such as product name, description, and industry. Ahead of the Creator Marketplace shutdown, TikTok is advising advertisers to transfer their data from the marketplace (or another dashboard known as the TikTok Creative Challenge) to TikTok One. The plan to transition the Creator Marketplace to TikTok One was first announced last May.
