The effect of advertising strategies on a short video platform: evidence from TikTok

Purpose There are two major strategies for short video advertising which are KOL (key opinion leader) endorsement and in-feed advertising. The authors aim to research the effectiveness of these two strategies for heterogeneous sellers. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a data set of users from Douyin. Using an endogenous treatment model, the study empirically examines the two strategies' effectiveness in attracting product traffic for online retailors at a short video app Douyin (TikTok). Findings The results show that the performance of in-feed advertising is higher when the seller's product is of lower price and when the seller has smaller cumulative video exposure. In addition, KOL endorsement is effective regardless of the product price, but performs better when the seller has larger cumulative video exposure. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the interaction effects of two major advertising strategies, KOL endorsement and in-feed advertising on short video platforms. The findings provide important theoretical contributions and practical implications.