The era of free views on TikTok Shop is fading fast
The honeymoon period for TikTok Shop is over.
For years, TikTok sent organic traffic to videos from US merchants to help jump-start interest in its e-commerce business. But now, product sellers generally have to pay for TikTok ads in order to get significant views on their videos, three company partners and two TikTok staffers said. The drift away from free views began last year, but has really picked up in 2025, these people said.
The shift has been painful for some small businesses that were drawn to TikTok because it was a low-cost sales tool. A key part of the company's pitch to e-commerce brands had been: Hey, we're a platform for viral videos, and if you're lucky, we'll make your products take off, too.
Whether you sold pickle-jar themed sweatshirts or freeze-dried skittles, you had a shot at grabbing millions of views for free. And after a video gained steam, sales would often follow (sometimes faster than sellers could handle).
But in 2025, those unpaid views and serendipitous order surges are few and far between, three TikTok agency partners said. The platform has a lot more companies on its roster that are competing for attention, and it's not juicing their views as often, they said.
As free traffic fades, brands are turning instead to paid ads to promote their shopping videos.
"My recommendation to all brands is to model your business to be sustainable on an ad-driven marketplace or you're destined to falter," Max Benator, CEO of the social-commerce agency Orca, told Business Insider. "Whether that's because you benefited from early traffic or a viral moment, you can't sustain it without an ad program, which costs money."
The shift toward paid traffic is a sign that the platform is maturing, said William August, CEO of the social-shopping firm Outlandish.
When TikTok first began testing Shop in the US in late 2022, it had to send free traffic to sellers in order to drum up interest and demonstrate its platform could drive sales. Ultimately, the company wants its business to look more like that of its Chinese sister app Douyin, or Amazon, which make money from ads in addition to taking a commission on product sales.
A TikTok spokesperson said its team works closely with sellers to provide tips and guidance on content strategies that work well with the app's audiences.
The end of freebies
TikTok Shop has been pulling back on other seller perks this year, including sunsetting free shipping subsidies last week.
The platform's sales have slumped this year amid tariffs and other global economic factors. The company's leadership was disappointed with the performance of its US e-commerce business in 2024 as well.
As freebies disappear, the company could have trouble convincing its roster of small businesses to pay for better performance.
There are still circumstances in which TikTok will boost views for Shop videos, three company staffers said.
If a brand is selling a product in a category that the company is prioritizing, or that falls under a broader promotional campaign, its videos or livestreams could get a boost, the employees said. If a brand is operating in a new market like Mexico or Brazil, it may get a bump in views. And TikTok account managers can also request that one of their clients get boosted in the feed to help drive up sales, one of the staffers said. The company has the ability to promote non-shopping content in users' feeds, too.
The shift away from free traffic for sellers comes at a tenuous moment for TikTok in the US.
The platform could shut down in the country due to a 2024 law that requires owner ByteDance to divest from the app. Some merchants have been exploring selling in new markets like Mexico, where TikTok is putting promotional weight behind e-commerce.
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Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Hill
37 minutes ago
- The Hill
Top US universities raced to become global campuses. Under Trump, it's becoming a liability
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three decades ago, foreign students at Harvard University accounted for just 11% of the total student body. Today, they account for 26%. Like other prestigious U.S. universities, Harvard for years has been cashing in on its global cache to recruit the world's best students. Now, the booming international enrollment has left colleges vulnerable to a new line of attack from President Donald Trump. The president has begun to use his control over the nation's borders as leverage in his fight to reshape American higher education. Trump's latest salvo against Harvard uses a broad federal law to bar foreign students from entering the country to attend the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His order applies only to Harvard, but it poses a threat to other universities his administration has targeted as hotbeds of liberalism in need of reform. It's rattling campuses under federal scrutiny, including Columbia University, where foreign students make up 40% of the campus. 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Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Yahoo
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Top US universities raced to become global campuses. Under Trump, it's becoming a liability
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three decades ago, foreign students at Harvard University accounted for just 11% of the total student body. Today, they account for 26%. Like other prestigious U.S. universities, Harvard for years has been cashing in on its global cache to recruit the world's best students. Now, the booming international enrollment has left colleges vulnerable to a new line of attack from President Donald Trump. The president has begun to use his control over the nation's borders as leverage in his fight to reshape American higher education. Trump's latest salvo against Harvard uses a broad federal law to bar foreign students from entering the country to attend the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His order applies only to Harvard, but it poses a threat to other universities his administration has targeted as hotbeds of liberalism in need of reform. It's rattling campuses under federal scrutiny, including Columbia University, where foreign students make up 40% of the campus. 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Even at the 50 most selective public schools, foreign students account for about 11% of the student body. America's universities have been widening their doors to foreign students for decades, but the numbers shot upward starting around 2008, as Chinese students came to U.S. universities in rising numbers. It was part of a 'gold rush' in higher education, said William Brustein, who orchestrated the international expansion of several universities. 'Whether you were private or you were public, you had to be out in front in terms of being able to claim you were the most global university," said Brustein, who led efforts at Ohio State University and West Virginia University. The race was driven in part by economics, he said. Foreign students typically aren't eligible for financial aid, and at some schools they pay two or three times the tuition rate charged to U.S. students. Colleges also were eyeing global rankings that gave schools a boost if they recruited larger numbers of foreign students and scholars, he said. But the expansion wasn't equal across all types of colleges — public universities often face pressure from state lawmakers to limit foreign enrollment and keep more seats open for state residents. Private universities don't face that pressure, and many aggressively recruited foreign students as their numbers of U.S. students stayed flat. The college-going rate among American students has changed little for decades, and some have been turned off on college by the rising costs and student debt loads. Supporters say foreign students benefit colleges — and the wider US economy Proponents of international exchange say foreign students pour billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, and many go on to support the nation's tech industry and other fields in need of skilled workers. Most international students study the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In the Ivy League, most international growth has been at the graduate level, while undergraduate numbers have seen more modest increases. Foreign graduate students make up more than half the students at Harvard's government and design schools, along with five of Columbia's schools. The Ivy League has been able to outpace other schools in large part because of its reputation, Brustein said. He recalls trips to China and India, where he spoke with families that could recite where each Ivy League school sat in world rankings. 'That was the golden calf for these families. They really thought, 'If we could just get into these schools, the rest of our lives would be on easy street,'' he said. Last week, Trump said he thought Harvard should cap its foreign students to about 15%. 'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can't get in because we have foreign students there,' Trump said at a news conference. The university called Trump's latest action banning entry into the country to attend Harvard 'yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights.' In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's previous attempt to block international students at Harvard, the university said its foreign student population was the result of 'a painstaking, decades-long project' to attract the most qualified international students. Losing access to student visas would immediately harm the school's mission and reputation, it said. 'In our interconnected global economy," the school said, 'a university that cannot welcome students from all corners of the world is at a competitive disadvantage.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at Collin Binkley, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
