TikTok Shop may just be able to shed its reputation as a place to buy only kitschy, viral goods.
Sure, there are still plenty of small and medium-sized businesses selling inexpensive products like heatless hair curlers, magnetic selfie lights and espresso martini-shaped candles. But a few recent factors make us think TikTok Shop is at a turning point.
More major brands—including Samsung, Ralph Lauren and Disney—have become sellers on TikTok Shop recently as the company has made a push to become a higher-end shopping destination. Offering sellers cash incentives and ad credits ahead of Black Friday couldn't have hurt.
Luxury items such as second-hand Rolexes and Hermès handbags are also now being sold on TikTok Shop for thousands of dollars, Bloomberg reported. That’s happening as more Gen Zers are rejecting fast fashion and turning to resale to find more sustainable or budget-friendly options. (Worth noting: There are also still plenty of knockoffs and fake goods available on TikTok Shop, despite the platform’s attempts to curb them.)
Even for cheaper items, the optics seem to be changing. Take podcaster Alex Cooper’s Instagram Story this week. She posted a picture of her dog sleeping in a dog bed purchased from TikTok Shop. “My dogs are obsessed with this bed so turns out it’s not all scary over there,” she wrote. In a subsequent post, Cooper clarified the purchase wasn’t an ad. “I just like my dogs[‘] asses to be comfortable,” she said.
Then there’s the data. TikTok Shop generated over $500 million in US sales over the four-day shopping period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to the company. Brands with more than $10 million in annual revenue were a key growth driver, increasing their sales by 76% year over year. Some of that is because higher-end goods are likely to cost much more than, say, a viral pickle jar sweatshirt, even at a discount.
TikTok Shop sales still represent a small slice of the $11.8 billion that Americans spent online on Black Friday this year, according to Adobe. Shoppers spent another $14.25 billion on Cyber Monday.
But TikTok also influenced purchase decisions elsewhere online. TikTok accounted for 50.8% of commerce ad traffic over Black Friday weekend, up from just 16.4% in 2024, according to MikMak, which analyzed data from 2,500 brands.
On the one hand, the timing makes sense. It takes time to build up a new product and get both shoppers and sellers on board. It’s especially challenging to attract established brands, which are protective of their reputations and already have multiple places where they sell goods. TikTok Shop turned two in the US in September, and only now is becoming a place where brands have to be.
But TikTok’s sales frenzy is coming just ahead of Dec. 16, the latest extended deadline from President Trump for the company to find a US buyer or face a ban. While most brands and creators are no longer worried that TikTok will disappear from the country entirely, they are still concerned about what changes could happen on the app if and when a deal for a new US-only TikTok goes through.
For now, it seems that fear is far in the back of their minds: Missing out on what is the biggest sales opportunity of the year trumps longer-term concerns about TikTok’s future. For more on this tune into our podcast below or on Spotify. We also share what types of creator partnerships worked best on TikTok, based on data from Dash Social.
In other news…
MrBeast in the Hot Seat
Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, took the stage at the New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit on Wednesday in New York alongside the CEO of his company, Jeffrey Housenbold.
The interview gave insight into the mega YouTuber’s business ambitions for Beast Industries, which is now valued at $5 billion. These range from creating a mobile phone company (called Beast Mobile) with a built-in financial services platform to a new service to match creators and Fortune 1000 marketers. “Our mission is to be the most impactful entertainment brand in the world,” Housenbold said.
MrBeast, who rarely gives interviews besides to other creators, also explained why he decided to create a reality competition show for Amazon Prime Video when he already has a staggering 450 million subscribers on YouTube. “When you go to YouTube, you don’t go there to watch a 10 episode series,” Donaldson said, adding that it also offers him the ability to reach an older audience.
Spotify Wrapped: Podcasting Edition
Happy Spotify Wrapped to all who celebrate! We both had 21 as our average listening age, probably due to our constant streaming of Taylor Swift. (Shoot us a note with your average listening age or top artist!)
As for our podcast, we’re only a month or so in, but already have listeners tuning in from the US, UK, Germany, Slovenia and Spain. We were also excited (and pretty shocked!) to see that our Scalable podcast received more shares than 90% of other shows.
When it came to podcasting on Spotify overall, video seems to have caught on in 2025 after some initial skepticism from top shows. More than 80% of the top 50 podcasts in the US featured a video episode on Spotify.
2025 was also a breakout year for health and wellness shows. “People are really going to podcasts to really learn how to live their lives and get information about the world,” Jordan Newman, head of content partnerships at Spotify, told us.
Creator Moves
Jake Paul’s venture capital firm Anti Fund announced a new $30 million fund. It also appointed the YouTuber-turned-boxer’s brother, Logan Paul, as a general partner. The firm’s bets include prediction market Polymarket, Khloe Kardashian’s healthy popcorn brand Kloud and corporate credit card startup Ramp.
Netflix is bringing the popular soccer podcast “The Rest Is Football” to the streaming service during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. It’s the latest move by Netflix to bring on more podcasters and creators as it looks to compete with YouTube.
Bethenny Frankel, the former “Real Housewives” star turned TikTok sensation, launched a new dating platform called The Core, which feels more like an exclusive social club than a matchmaking service or dating app. To join, people have to apply and undergo a vetting process. Frankel also appeared on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” to promote the launch.
Olivia Nuzzi’s new book “American Canto” is flopping so far despite the media frenzy leading up to the release. If you’re not caught up on the scandal, including the political journalist’s relationship with RFK Jr., read this recap. Tune into our latest podcast for our take on why the scandal matters to the creator economy.
The Round Up
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, will invest more than $37 billion in Brazil to build a new AI data center. TikTok uses data centers around the world to store user data and has been expanding into local regions as it faces data security scrutiny from governments.
Gradium, a new voice AI startup, announced its launch and a $70 million seed round from high-profile investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel. It joins a crowded field of startups developing voice AI technology, ranging from OpenAI and Anthropic to voice-focused ElevenLabs.
Indiegogo, the crowdfunding site, is planning to launch a new type of campaign called “express crowdfunding.” It allows creators of products to ship the items while the campaign is still ongoing rather than having to wait until it’s completed.
Driven, a new streaming platform for car fans, will launch to an invite-only group of users during the first quarter of 2026. It will offer hundreds of hours of content, including original series and videos from popular creators. Driven is another example of how fragmented media has become as niche platforms grow in popularity.
More layoffs could be coming to Meta Platforms. The company is planning budget cuts of up to 30% for its metaverse initiatives in 2026, according to Bloomberg. Investors have long been skeptical of Meta’s metaverse spending and the company’s stock jumped after the news broke.
Soundbite
“You only have to do about 5% of the work because AI did the rest,” said Monique Hinton in a tutorial on her YouTube channel, where she used AI to quickly create content aimed at toddlers as a way to earn hundreds of dollars a day. To no surprise, parents and child safety advocates are concerned. This Bloomberg story about the rise of AI slop for babies is worth a read.
Regulatory Woes
TikTok and LinkedIn are facing investigations by Ireland’s media regulator over whether the companies’ tools for reporting illegal content are easy to access and whether they allow people to report child sexual abuse material anonymously. It’s the latest example of the heightened scrutiny big tech companies are facing from the EU.
Talent Tracker
Devin Smith joined the Wall Street Journal to start the newspaper’s Talent Lab, which will help its journalists develop their own personal brands, including through videos on social media. Before that, she worked for USA Today’s Creator Network for its sports media group.
Ann-Marie Alcántara left the Wall Street Journal where she covered internet culture. She is the latest in a wave of creator economy reporters, including Aisha Counts and Taylor Lorenz, to leave major publications to pursue other opportunities. We discussed more about the state of traditional media in an interview this week with the Embedded newsletter.
YouTube is hiring a strategic partner development manager to help grow brand deals for creators on the video-sharing site.
Tubi is hiring a creator partnerships coordinator as the free, ad-supported streaming platform looks to bring on more content from creators.
