TikTok released its 2026 trend forecast, called TikTok Next, outlining how user behavior and brand engagement were expected to change in the year ahead.
The company said users were moving away from passive scrolling toward active discovery and more intentional engagement with content.
TikTok said the forecast was built using its own analytics tools, including TikTok One Insight Spotlight and TikTok Market Scope, which analyzed audience behavior, content performance, and purchasing signals across the platform.
The company grouped its 2026 “Trend Signals” into three themes: Reali-TEA, Curiosity Detours, and Emotional ROI.
TikTok said these reflected a shift toward more grounded content, deeper exploration through search and discovery, and shopping decisions driven by emotional value rather than impulse.
TikTok said brands would need to react more quickly to cultural moments, create content that matched how users actually talked and searched, and provide clearer reasons for why products were worth buying.
Why This Matters Today
If you market on TikTok, the forecast showed that how people use the platform was changing.
TikTok said users are increasingly searching, comparing, and validating products on the app, rather than relying on traditional search engines or ads.
The report also suggested that creators and niche communities were becoming more important for brand discovery.
TikTok said users often moved through unexpected content paths that led them to new products and categories, making rigid audience targeting less effective.
TikTok positioned its own tools as central to tracking these shifts.
By combining organic and paid data, the company said brands could see how conversations, trends, and purchases connected in real time.
Our Key Takeaways:
- TikTok released its TikTok Next 2026 forecast to describe how users and brands would interact on the platform in the coming year.
- The report highlighted three trends focused on real-time culture, discovery through search, and emotionally driven shopping decisions.
- TikTok said brands would need to use its analytics tools to track audience sentiment and respond to trends as they emerged.
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