TikTok Launches Inventory Filter to Help Brands Align with Content

Social media platform TikTok has unveiled a proprietary solution to help advertisers make sure they’re appearing adjacent to the types of user-generated content (UGC) that best aligns with their brands.

The TikTok Inventory Filter “gives advertisers access to three distinct tiers of video inventory — full, standard, and limited,” according to a release from the company. The tiers are the result of TikTok’s content guidelines and the GARM Brand Safety Floor and Brand Suitability Framework and may be selected by advertisers in TikTok’s Ads Manager tool.

Content on TikTok is evaluated using framework guidelines and categorized as floor content, high-risk content, medium-risk content, and low-risk content. Floor content “violates TikTok’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and/or Intellectual Property Policy” while high-risk content is defined as the “glamorization or gratuitous depiction of mature themes.” Medium-risk content is defined as “fictional or entertainment depiction of mature themes” and low-risk content is the “educational depiction” of those themes.

The TikTok Inventory Filter then uses advanced machine learning to determine where video content fits into the three inventory categories:

• Full Inventory, which excludes any floor content and some high-risk content. According to TikTok, ads in this tier “may appear next to some content featuring mature themes”
• Standard Inventory, which excludes both floor content and high-risk content. Standard inventory ads “will appear next to content that is appropriate for most brands and may contain some mature themes”
• Limited Inventory excludes all risk levels and ads “will appear next to content that doesn’t contain mature themes”

Guidance for using the TikTok Inventory Filter can be found in TikTok’s Business Help Center. The Help Center also provides examples of what types of content are excluded from the platform in 12 categories that include hateful behavior, minor safety, illegal and regulated goods, and more.

For even more clarity, the Help Center provides advertisers with a table of 17 content categories that face potential exclusion due to platform guidelines, and whether that content is included or excluded as part of the full and standard inventory ranking.

BSI co-founder Neal Thurman endorsed the TikTok Inventory Filter and what the tool represents to the digital advertising industry overall, saying, "It's fantastic to see the work that has been done across the industry via organizations like GARM start to come to fruition in tools that ad buyers can use to better express their brand values when buying on platforms."

Brands looking to advertise on TikTok can address many of their brand safety and suitability concerns by utilizing the TikTok Inventory Filter. The TikTok Inventory Filter is currently available in 25 countries and more than 15 languages.