TikTok introduced major updates to its advertising products during its 2025 NewFronts presentation. The platform is expanding Pulse Premiere, which pairs ads with premium publisher content. It’s also launching a new product called Pulse Core. This focuses on creator-made content.
Pulse Premiere adds new partners
Pulse Premiere debuted in 2023 as an ad placement product that allowed brands to run ads directly after content from select publishers, which included Condé Nast, NBCUniversal and DotDash Meredith.
TikTok is now expanding Pulse Premiere to include new media partners such as BuzzFeed, Paramount, the NHL and UFC. This expansion brings more professionally produced content into TikTok’s premium ad inventory.
TikTok also emphasized that Pulse Premiere is designed for advertisers looking to align with what it called “the most impactful content” on the platform. While the focus remains on publisher content, TikTok has increasingly framed creator content as part of that equation, suggesting the lines between traditional media and creator content are becoming less distinct within its ad strategy.
Pulse Core is built around creator content
The company also announced Pulse Core, a new ad product that places ads next to high-performing creator content. Pulse Core uses machine learning to identify trending videos across verticals such as beauty, gaming and food, and then packages them into ad inventory.
Unlike Pulse Premiere, which is publisher-specific, Pulse Core is creator-focused. TikTok described it as an offering designed to match the scale and performance of more traditional media channels, such as sports broadcasts or TV shows.
What this means for the creator economy
TikTok’s NewFronts announcements reflect broader industry trends that put creators closer to the center of digital advertising. Platforms are no longer separating creators and publishers in their monetization models. Instead, they’re offering advertisers access to both through unified systems.