How businesses targeting younger audiences today – such as Hypermonk Games, VNG Games, Klook and DrHoat – leverage the fast-growing ecosystem and AI.
TikTok is home to over 460 million people in Southeast Asia, reaffirming its position as the region’s fastest-growing short-video platform, according to SensorTower at the inaugural TikTok Apps Summit Southeast Asia held late October 2025 in Hanoi, Vietnam, themed From Install to Impact.
“Over 160 million users in Indonesia, 70 million in Vietnam, 50 million in Thailand and the remaining 180 million spread across SEA come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn and discover something new,” said Nikhil Rolla, Head of Strategic Accounts, Southeast Asia, TikTok.
“This scale represents more than just exponential growth opportunities for developers, app publishers and businesses, it also reflects our vision for Southeast Asia: to be a key driver of the region’s digital economy.”
The event served to demonstrate how, from first install to long-term retention, developers and businesses can reach the right audience, optimize campaigns in real time, and measure impact at every stage.
According to Rolla, by combining community participation, creative storytelling, and data-driven insights, TikTok helps apps scale efficiently while building loyalty and sustained user value.
He said: “We want every app to reach its audience, connect deeply, and scale meaningful results on TikTok. Through the integration of creativity, technology, and insight, we’re helping brands and developers thrive in Southeast Asia’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.”
Driving app growth
Across Southeast Asia, brands are achieving stronger returns and sustained growth using TikTok. One such example is Hypermonk Games, which leveraged the new Smart+ Day 0 Target ROAS (tROAS) solution for their hit title Highway Overtake.
The campaign delivered a 20% higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) versus their KPI and reduced Cost Per Install by 50% compared to manual bids.
Focusing on TikTok, the strategy successfully optimized for ad revenue value from the start. Hypermonk confirmed “noticeable gains” and is now “looking forward to scale these results.”
At the event, Vietnamese gaming firm VNG Games shared how its efforts to bring younger audiences to the game Metal Slug: Awakening involved pre-launch registrations, new creative videos as well challenges for the community to create better video content.
Chris Liu, head of business development and partnerships, VNG Games, explained how the company pushed existing user-generated content about the game to a larger audience on TikTok. In the end, Metal Slug beat its install targets and exceeded engagement levels on the way through the funnel.
“You really have to consider that mid-to-upper funnel, because without that you’re not unleashing the platform to its full potential,” Liu said.
Liu and his team also saw how younger generations prefer to multitask. That means not spending long sessions in one game. “Time and experience are very different for them,” Liu observed. “Our traditional marketing practices are not having the same effect anymore.”
To engage with users, he said: “We need to capture their hearts and feelings and help them engage with one another also.” TikTok, as a platform that lets people create their own content and share with one another, offers just that.
VNG Games’ launch campaign for Metal Slug: Awakening on TikTok proved to have been successful across multiple markets. In Taiwan and Vietnam, the engagement rate exceeded the benchmark by 8.7% and 2.9% respectively. In Thailand, percentage of ads viewed in full, from start to end, was 5% higher than the benchmark.
Performance-wise, the number of installs reached 55% higher than target in just 7 days since the launch of Metal Slug: Awakening. Also, in all 9 markets the campaign was conducted, TikTok was one of the top 3 channels with highest revenue contribution. In Thailand, the iOS campaign overachieved the install volume target by 328% and lowered the CPI target by 53%, which demonstrated the effectiveness of the campaign.
Also at the event, travel and experiences app Klook, which uses TikTok to reach its 70-80% mobile millennial and Gen Z audience, shared its journey on the TikTok platform. Focusing on experiences, Klook needed a wider variety of content to draw in its audience.
“In the first few years of growth, we were chasing growth,” said Marcus Yong, Vice President, global marketing, Klook. “That means over-indexing on demand capture, so everything was about last-click ROAS. But, after a while – especially in mature markets – you realise you’re not really growing the pie, just cannibalising the same pie.”
Klook’s marketing team started broadening out with its first mid-to-upper funnel brand campaign earlier this year called ‘The Best You’, bringing in Marie Kondo to run a series of videos to find her ‘best you’ when travelling.
The campaign so far has an ad recall and awareness rate of more than 5% and a conversion rate of 14.5%, and Yong is hoping the mid-year content campaign will translate into a greater growth curve in Q4.
Unlocking creativity and growth with AI
Evolving beyond just being a platform, TikTok is an ecosystem that’s built to help brands turn creativity into measurable growth. That’s why it is introducing AI to help businesses connect with their audiences in faster, more meaningful ways – as authentic, timely interactions are essential to driving growth.
“We’re entering a new era of creativity, one where AI accelerates imagination and sparks bold ideas. Our mission is enable brands of all sizes to move faster, scale smarter, and stay in tune with the speed of culture,” added Rolla.
At the heart of this innovation is Symphony, TikTok’s generative AI creative suite. Designed to assist marketers at every stage of the content creation process, Symphony seamlessly transforms initial ideas into high-quality videos in minutes, providing complete scripts, assets, and multilingual dubbing. Symphony also enables the creation of diverse AI-powered digital avatars, allowing brands to effectively deliver their message.
The Content Suite allows brands to discover high-performing, user-generated content mentioning their products — delivering over 40 times more relevant results than in-app searches — and instantly turn these videos into licensed ads.
This AI-powered ecosystem is complemented by Smart+, TikTok’s intelligent performance solution. Smart+ automates and optimizes campaigns across targeting, bidding, and creative selection, and works with Symphony to enhance existing assets or generate new, high-potential videos, ensuring campaigns remain fresh and effective without manual intervention.
The latest addition to the AI family is a brand-new tool designed to help businesses turn conversations into conversions more efficiently and effectively: TikTok Direct Message AI Chatbot or TikTok Lead Genie.
Millions of users reach out to businesses on TikTok every day through Direct Messages (DMs). With the AI-powered chatbot, businesses can now respond instantly, collect leads, and engage customers 24/7 — all while maintaining a natural, human-like conversation.
Every customer’s conversation matters, but speed is also important. TikTok data shows businesses that if they reply to a customer within three minutes, conversions can increase by 2.2 times.
The TikTok AI Chatbot helps businesses respond to messages in a timely manner, and when paired with TikTok’s Lead Optimization Goal, every interaction becomes a powerful signal, analyzing leads, identifying patterns and driving growth.
Early adopters across retail, beauty, food and beverage, and services have already seen results, from higher conversion rates to stronger lead pipelines.
In Vietnam, DrHoat, part of leading aesthetics group Saigon Star, activated TikTok Lead Genie to capture high-value leads around the clock, reducing CPL by 80%, saving 300 daily manhours, and generating over $23,000 in daily revenue while maintaining high engagement standards and driving digital transformation.
