This week, advertisers heavily reliant on TikTok for digital marketing implemented contingency plans in response to the growing likelihood of an imminent U.S. ban on the popular Chinese-owned social media platform, as reported by Reuters. One marketing executive characterized the situation as a critical juncture for the advertising industry, following months of assumptions that a solution would prevent the short-video app’s shutdown.

“It seemed unbelievable even as of just a few weeks ago to imagine that there would be no TikTok,” stated Kerry Perse, founder of Influence & Inspire Consulting and former head of social media at Omnicom Group’s media agency OMD.

"We all thought that any access issues to the TikTok app would be slow and drawn-out," she said.

Chinese technology company ByteDance is under pressure to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by January 19 or face an extraordinary ban on the application, which is utilized by 170 million Americans, due to national security concerns.

According to a report from Reuters on Wednesday, TikTok is preparing to cease its U.S. operations on Sunday unless there is a last-minute intervention.

The incoming national security adviser for President-elect Donald Trump indicated that the new administration intends to implement measures to prevent TikTok from being shut down, although it remains uncertain whether Trump, who will assume office on Monday, has the legal authority to do so.

"I think after a long time feeling like this was a 'boy who cried wolf' situation, we may actually have a wolf sighting," said Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3.

A potential ban could result in over $11 billion in annual advertising investment in the U.S. becoming available, as projected by the marketing organization WARC Media. According to four advertising agency sources who spoke to Reuters, much of this expenditure is expected to transition to platforms where advertisers are already active, particularly Meta's Instagram and Alphabet's YouTube Shorts, which are popular for short-video ad campaigns.

As of Sunday, TikTok employees seemed uncertain about the app's future, although two sources indicated that the company was providing favorable refund options should services cease during ongoing advertising campaigns. TikTok has not yet responded to requests for comments on the situation.

Despite the looming ban, TikTok continued to promote new features to advertisers, including a tool set to launch in a testing phase on Thursday that would facilitate the bulk creation, modification, and addition of advertisements, as detailed in an email shared with Reuters.

The company also planned to set up a booth at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week, following cocktail events at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

In the meantime, brands and content creators were actively downloading their data in large quantities in anticipation of potential inaccessibility of the app starting Sunday, aiming to preserve at least some of their hard work.

One influencer, who promotes cereal and beauty products in her videos, shared advice on Tuesday with her nearly 16,000 followers on how to save their videos.

“Here’s how to download your TikTok data so you don’t lose literally everything you’ve had from the past five years,” said Maria Slate, grimacing, as the words “it’s fine I’m fine” displayed over her head.

The sentiment has shifted significantly compared to the prevailing attitude observed last month, when advertisers informed Reuters that they were not eager to reallocate their marketing budgets away from TikTok, even after a U.S. appeals court upheld the law mandating either a divestment or a ban.

As of January 8, ad expenditure on TikTok is projected to rise by 57% in the first two months of 2025, according to Guideline.ai, a research firm that monitors forward booking data from leading advertising agencies.

In recent years, TikTok has emerged as a formidable platform for advertisers aiming to engage young Americans, increasing its share of U.S. social media ad spending from just 2% in 2020, its inaugural full year in the U.S., to 20%, as reported by Guideline.ai.

This influence can be attributed in part to the platform's development of influencers and its promotion of online shopping culture, which has established it as a significant contributor to e-commerce sales.

E-Marketer, another research organization, projected late last year that by the end of 2024, approximately 43.8% of U.S. TikTok users would have made a purchase on the platform, surpassing the purchasing rates on Meta-owned platforms like Facebook and Instagram.