Meta is still where most advertisers start, and it stretches budget further on engagement. TikTok now delivers reach, traffic and leads more cheaply in the largest recent advertiser dataset. Southeast Asia SMEs should split budget by objective, not habit: Meta for community, remarketing and sales, TikTok for discovery and lower-cost leads, then localise creative by market.
What the latest advertiser data says
The most useful recent benchmark is Metricool’s Social Media Advertising Trends 2026, published on 22 September 2026. It covers 44,355 advertisers, 628,969 Meta and TikTok campaigns and more than $471 million in ad spend. It is a global sample, not a Southeast Asia study, so treat it as direction rather than a forecast for your account.
The headline findings:
- Meta is still the default. 91% of advertisers analysed ran ads on Meta alone, 5% on TikTok alone and 4% on both.
- Budget is drifting to TikTok. Among accounts using both platforms, TikTok’s share of combined spend rose from 23.6% in 2025 to 25.7% in 2026.
- TikTok is cheaper for reach. TikTok’s CPM (cost per thousand impressions) came in 22% lower than Meta’s.
- TikTok is cheaper for leads. Cost per lead was $2.69 on TikTok against $6 on Meta, on similar spend per campaign.
- Meta wins on engagement. Once spend is factored in, Meta returned 10.8 interactions per dollar against TikTok’s 8.2.
- Meta sales returns are under pressure. ROAS on Meta sales campaigns fell from 5.48 in 2025 to 4.57 in 2026, as spend grew faster than purchase value.
One caution from the same report: TikTok showed a far lower cost per sale, but on only 297 product sales campaigns against 67,025 on Meta. The accounts still running that objective on TikTok may be the ones it already works for. Do not move your sales budget on that number alone.
The Singapore context
Both platforms reach most of the adult market. DataReportal’s Digital 2026 Singapore report (2025) shows TikTok’s ad tools reaching 3.80 million adults, about 75.4% of Singaporeans aged 18 and over, while Meta’s tools show 3.80 million Facebook users and 3.35 million Instagram users. Attention differs, though. We Are Social and Meltwater (2025) report that TikTok users in Singapore spend an average of 1 hour 39 minutes a day on the app, the highest daily engagement of any platform.
For beauty, wellness, lifestyle and F&B brands, that suggests a practical division of labour: Meta holds the audiences, customer lists and sales machinery; TikTok is where many new customers first discover products.
Split budget by objective, not platform loyalty
Use the campaign objective as the first budget driver. This is a starting frame to test, then adjust after four to six weeks of clean data.
| Objective | Lean towards | Why (directional, not guaranteed) |
|---|---|---|
| Reach and discovery | TikTok, with Meta awareness tests | Lower CPM in Metricool’s 2026 sample |
| Traffic to site or Shop | Test both; TikTok often cheaper per click | Keep UTMs and Shop links clean so you can compare |
| Leads (forms, WhatsApp, CRM) | TikTok where cost per lead holds up; Meta where CRM audiences are mature | TikTok’s lower cost per lead in the sample; Meta’s stronger remarketing |
| Engagement and community | Meta (Instagram and Facebook) | More interactions per dollar in the sample |
| Sales and catalogue | Meta as the core; TikTok Shop and creator-style ads where commerce already lives | Meta’s sales tooling; small TikTok sales sample |
How the weighting shifts by brand stage
- Early-stage brand building awareness: weight towards TikTok reach and traffic, with Meta handling engagement and remarketing.
- Established brand with a proven offer: keep Meta sales and Advantage+ as the core, with TikTok for prospecting and Shop tests.
- Creator-led consumer brand: weight towards TikTok creator collaborations and native creator-style ads, with Meta for retargeting and community.
Rebalance monthly on cost per acquisition, cost per lead and contribution margin, not click-through rate.
Automation, creator content and the creative moat
Automated campaign types such as Meta Advantage+ and Google Performance Max are now the default for many smaller accounts. Two Singapore agency trend reports say they outperform manual setups for most accounts spending under about S$50,000 a month, provided creative variety and conversion data are in place (MediaPlus, 2026; Best Marketing Singapore, 2026). Treat that as practitioner guidance, not a fixed threshold.
Automation shifts the advantage to what you feed it:
- Clean conversion signals. Set up the Meta Conversions API and TikTok’s Events API, name events consistently and check they fire before scaling.
- Creative volume. Several hooks, lengths and languages beat one polished film. Rising costs punish accounts that never refresh.
- Native creator-style content. Ads that look and sound like the feed often fit TikTok better than a polished brand-made film. Plan creator collaborations around hooks you can test, then use the strongest cuts as creative in your TikTok ads.
- Business measures. Judge on cost per acquisition and margin. Metricool’s falling Meta sales ROAS is a warning against “set and forget”.
Localise for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and beyond
Do not run one “ASEAN” ad set and hope. Language, humour, price anchors, payment habits and Shop stock differ across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, and a global dataset cannot replace market-level testing.
- Separate campaigns by market when the offer or language changes.
- Localise captions, voiceover and social proof such as reviews, creators and marketplace ratings.
- Match paid hooks to your organic short-form video and Shop SKUs (see short-form video SEO and social commerce in Southeast Asia).
- Have a WhatsApp or CRM capture step ready after the click so paid spend builds an owned audience (WhatsApp marketing in Singapore).
What to measure this quarter
- Cost per lead, cost per acquisition and contribution margin by market and platform
- Incremental lift tests (on/off or by region) before trusting platform-reported ROAS alone
- Creative fatigue: refresh when frequency climbs and cost per lead worsens
- Growth in first-party audiences (email, WhatsApp, CRM) as a hedge against auction swings
- Branded search and “How did you hear about us?” answers as signs that paid discovery is working
At Brands Win Agency, Meta and TikTok run inside one weekly testing rhythm in Growth System 90: find the creative and data gaps first, test in a fixed cadence, then scale the split that the numbers support. You can see how paid media fits with our other work on our services page.
FAQ
Is Meta still necessary if TikTok is cheaper?
For most accounts, yes. In Metricool’s 2026 dataset, 91% of advertisers ran on Meta alone. TikTok’s lower costs for reach, traffic and leads make it a strong complement, but Meta remains the base for remarketing, community and mature sales campaigns. Cheaper per result does not mean it covers the whole funnel.
Where does TikTok tend to win?
In Metricool’s 2026 sample, TikTok had a 22% lower CPM than Meta and a cost per lead of $2.69 against Meta’s $6. Beauty, food and lifestyle categories often suit the format. Your category may differ, so test market by market with clean conversion tracking before moving most of your budget.
Where does Meta still win?
Engagement and breadth. Metricool found Meta returned 10.8 interactions per dollar against TikTok’s 8.2, and most dual-platform spend still goes to Meta. Facebook and Instagram also anchor remarketing, Advantage+ sales campaigns and customer-list audiences. Treat Meta as the base layer unless your own data says otherwise.
Should we use Advantage+ and other automated campaigns?
Yes, once you have varied creative and reliable conversion tracking. Singapore agency guidance for 2026 treats automated campaign types as the default for most smaller accounts. If your events are messy or you only have one ad, fix that first; automation scales weak inputs as fast as strong ones.
How do we localise ads across Southeast Asia?
Build creative, language and offers market by market. Avoid one regional ad set when Singapore English, Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia or Thai copy would change the response. Localise social proof, price cues and Shop stock, and brief creators who already speak to that market.
What about falling ROAS on Meta sales campaigns?
Metricool reports Meta sales ROAS in its sample falling from 5.48 in 2025 to 4.57 in 2026. Read that as pressure on stale creative, auction competition and messy measurement, not a forecast for your account. Respond with fresh creative, better first-party audiences, cleaner conversion data and structured TikTok tests.