Have you ever wondered why you still pour the majority of your advertising budget into Meta, even though TikTok is increasingly proving its superior cost-efficiency? If the answer is "out of habit" or "because everyone else is doing it," you are among the 91.51% of advertisers globally—those who are missing out on one of the cheapest opportunities of our era.
I have spent two decades burning money on advertising and learning countless painful lessons. And the biggest lesson is this: the crowd is not always right. Sometimes, going against the crowd is precisely what brings in unexpected profits.
A recent study by Metricool analyzed 628,969 campaigns from over 40,000 advertisers worldwide, with total spending reaching $471.49 million between January and June 2026. The results made me pause and think deeply.
The Cost Landscape: TikTok Is Cheaper Across Every Metric
Let's start with the undeniable numbers. When comparing ad costs between TikTok and Meta (including Instagram and Facebook), TikTok outperforms across almost all key metrics.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
This is the biggest difference. The average CPC on Meta is $0.07, while on TikTok it is only $0.03—more than half as cheap. It sounds simple, but multiply that by hundreds of thousands of clicks in a campaign. That discrepancy can save you thousands of dollars each month.
What is even more notable lies in practical performance. Data shows that a Traffic campaign on TikTok generates nearly 8 times the number of clicks compared to the same campaign on Meta, with less than half the cost per click. The average budget on TikTok is higher ($949.83 vs. $304.03), but it translates that extra investment into results much more effectively. Spending more is not necessarily wasteful—spending in the right place is the art.
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
The gap is even wider when it comes to leads. The CPL on TikTok is $2.69, while on Meta it is $6—more than double. And this trend is increasingly leaning toward TikTok: CPL on this platform dropped by 33% in just one year, while Meta increased by 14%.
Let me emphasize this: if you are running lead generation campaigns on Meta and paying $6 per lead, while TikTok charges only $2.69 for the same result, you are wasting more than $3 on every single lead. Multiply that by thousands of leads a month, and that is a fortune going down the drain.
Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
Regarding reach, TikTok also takes the lead, though the gap is somewhat narrower. TikTok's CPM is $0.38, which is 22% lower than Meta's $0.48. Both platforms recorded cost increases over the past year—TikTok up 5.5% and Meta up 8%—but TikTok still maintains its price advantage.
Meta's Bright Spot: Engagement Remains a Weapon
If TikTok wins on every cost metric, why do as many as 91.51% of advertisers still run exclusively on Meta? The answer lies in a metric that TikTok has yet to dethrone: engagement.
In engagement campaigns, Meta achieves 10.8 interactions per dollar invested, compared to 8.2 on TikTok. TikTok generates a higher total number of interactions, but in terms of efficiency per unit of budget, Meta still has the edge. This is why brands focused on community building and brand engagement remain loyal to Meta.
The Greatest Paradox: Cheaper Yet Chosen By None
This is the part that troubles me the most. With all the cost advantages TikTok possesses, advertisers should have flocked to the platform. But the data shows the exact opposite.
91.51% of the analyzed accounts run ads exclusively on Meta. Only 4.76% run exclusively on TikTok, and 3.73% combine both platforms. This figure has remained virtually unchanged from the previous year, despite TikTok continuously improving its performance and lowering costs.
When broken down by account size, another paradox emerges. Small accounts (spending under $100 per month) have the most balanced budget allocation across both platforms: TikTok accounts for 44.34% of the budget, an increase of about 7 percentage points from the previous year. Meanwhile, the largest accounts—those spending over $10,000 per month—actually have the lowest ROAS of all groups, at just 3.97x, even lower than small accounts (4.75x).
This goes completely against conventional logic. You would think that spending more and investing more systematically would yield higher efficiency. But no. Larger budgets do not automatically bring better performance. That is one of the clearest conclusions from this year's data.
Declining ROAS: A Warning Sign for All Advertisers
If you are running ads on Meta and feel like every invested dollar is bringing in fewer profits than before, you are not alone. Data shows that ROAS on Meta dropped from 5.48 to 4.57 in just one year, despite increases in both investment and revenue. In other words, efficiency per dollar is diminishing.
This further reinforces the reason to review your budget allocation strategy. When a channel becomes increasingly expensive and less effective, continuing to pour money into it simply out of "habit" is a poor business decision.
The Geographical Factor: Not Every Market Is the Same
Another interesting aspect from the study is the huge variation in ROAS across countries. The average ROAS for sales campaigns on Meta is 4.57, but that is just an average. Brands in Norway achieved a return of more than $12 for every dollar invested, while brands in Germany reached only $3, and in the US it was $2.42.
This disparity reminds us that there is no one-size-fits-all formula for every market. A successful strategy in Norway could fail miserably in Germany, simply because consumer behavior and competitive levels differ.
Lessons for Vietnamese Advertisers: Don't Let Habit Guide You
So what do these data points mean for you—an advertiser operating in Vietnam? Here is what I advise you to do right now:
1. Test TikTok Seriously
Don't just run a few small campaigns and conclude that "TikTok doesn't work." Dedicate a significant portion of your budget—at least 20-30%—to test running for a minimum of 3 months. Measure CPC, CPL, and most importantly, lead quality, not just quantity.
2. Don't Let Habit Dictate Decisions
If you choose Meta simply because "everyone else is doing it," you are missing out on a massive cost-saving opportunity. Let your own data guide you, not the crowd.
3. Focus on Quality, Not Just Quantity
A cheap click is not necessarily a valuable click. Closely monitor actual conversion rates and average order values from each channel. Sometimes, paying more per click but receiving higher-quality customers is the right decision.
4. Balance Between the Two Platforms
Meta is still king of engagement, while TikTok dominates on cost. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Use Meta to build community and brand engagement, while leveraging TikTok to expand your new customer base at a low cost.
5. Monitor ROAS Across All Channels
ROAS on Meta is dropping. Don't wait until it hits rock bottom to take action. Set up a tight measurement system for both channels and be ready to shift budgets when necessary.
The Crowd Is Not Always Right
In two decades of marketing, I have witnessed countless times when the entire industry rushed after a trend only to realize they missed a bigger opportunity elsewhere. The story of TikTok and Meta right now is a vivid testament to that truth.
TikTok is offering a cheaper, more efficient product in many aspects. But out of habit, safety, and the belief that "everyone does it," 91.51% of advertisers continue to pour money into Meta without realizing what they are missing.
Don't let yourself be among them. Be someone who dares to test, dares to measure, and dares to change when the data shows that change is needed.
How are you allocating your advertising budget between Meta and TikTok? Have you ever tried running TikTok Ads and noticed the results—do they match the "cheaper, more efficient" numbers pointed out by this study, or have you encountered unique difficulties that no literature mentions? Share your practical experiences below so we can evaluate together whether TikTok is truly a forgotten "gold mine" or just an unfulfilled promise in the Vietnamese market!
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