TikTok's new move: Brand Consideration Ads
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
Last month TikTok came to chat with us about a new product they were launching, called Brand Consideration Ads. We happen to have just reviewed its performance these past two days.
(Big platforms really do love finding new ways to harvest the little guys.)
What is the ACC funnel?
Their new ACC funnel (Awareness → Consideration → Conversion) is really a whole system of logic TikTok has built to go with "consideration ads".
Traditionally, people use the AIDA model (Awareness → Interest → Desire → Action), or a simpler three-stage version (Awareness → Engagement → Conversion).
But TikTok's ACC funnel is different. It doesn't stay at the level of concepts; it uses user behaviour data directly to define each stage.
1. Clear behaviour tiers:
- Any impression, like or one-second view counts as Awareness;
- But if a user watches a video for more than three minutes, adds to cart, or even submits an order, they're counted as Consideration.
- Conversion is even more direct: an actual purchase.
2. Time window:
- Awareness and Consideration are both calculated over the past 15 days, while Conversion stretches to 365 days. This means TikTok sees "consideration" as a short-term signal, and purchase as long-term value.
3. Mutually exclusive:
- Each user can only be assigned to their single deepest stage, with no double counting. This matters for ad delivery, as it avoids audience overlap.
The good
- More scientific, more complete: stages aren't split by gut feeling but defined by data. Brands can know more precisely which step users are at.
- Strengthening the mid-funnel: before, people either threw money at Awareness or went straight for Conversion. TikTok forces you to look at Consideration, breaking down the journey from interest to conversion in finer detail.
- Tied to its native ecosystem: live, video, search, add to cart, gifts, follows, all counted. TikTok maximises its own strengths.
The bad
- Too TikTok-centric: these standards are set by TikTok, and may not fit every brand's logic. A low-price product, for instance, may never need a "three-minute view".
- Siloed data: TikTok only tracks data in its own ecosystem. A user might add to cart on TikTok but end up buying on Shopee or offline, and the system will still only count Consideration.
- Short window: with no interaction within 15 days, a user drops back into Awareness. This can differ a lot from a brand's own CRM judgement.
What it means for brands
This is the key point.
TikTok's ACC funnel is really pushing brands to take mid-funnel operations seriously.
Before, many people either spent heavily on exposure (Awareness) or stared fixedly at conversion (Conversion). But what really decides whether a business can get going is the Consideration stage in the middle.
Why?
Because this layer represents people who are "interested in you, but haven't ordered yet". If you don't work on this stage, all you can do is keep paying for new exposure, or force conversions with discounts.
But if you get content, interaction and experience right at the Consideration stage and slowly nurture that interest, then you truly win a place in the user's mind.
This isn't just a question of buying traffic. It's a question of brand building:
- Is your content persuasive?
- Can your product move people?
- Is the way you interact sincere enough?
If it's just "throwing money around", even the biggest budget may only buy a pile of useless exposure.
A real brand needs to "close the distance with users" at the Consideration stage.
In one line
TikTok has new rules again.
It keeps changing, there's always something new, so we just have to keep learning.
But the underlying logic hasn't changed:
Brands aren't built by throwing money at traffic. They're built by real content, interaction and experience with users, accumulated again and again.