Asia-Pacific Power List 2022: Ng Chew Wee, TikTok

Ng Chew Wee

Head of business marketing, APAC
TikTok
Singapore
New member  

Like few other platforms, TikTok has enjoyed an astronomical rise in the last few years and is arguably the most popular short-form video platform in the world with over a billion monthly active users. Shepherding this rise in APAC is Ng Chew Wee, the platform’s head marketer who looks after marketing to drive adspend among consumer brands. 

One could say that Ng’s team is doing a good job given that TikTok’s ad revenue doubled its share of spend in 2021, and sits at fifth spot in global adspend revenue below Meta, Google, Alibaba, and Amazon. In fact, adspend for TikTok is projected to triple in 2022 to more than US$11 billion. Despite being banned in India, the app gained 313 million users in APAC in 2021, surpassing any other region in the world. To top that, TikTok was the most downloaded app in Southeast Asia last year and takes the lead in per-user engagement among social apps globally.

To sweeten TikTok’s offering among advertisers, Ng recently collaborated with the platform’s marketing science team as well as Nielsen to produce research using insights and science to drive audience outcomes. 

During the thick of Covid-related business difficulties, Ng was also passionate about supporting small and midsize businesses (SMBs) in the region via the platform’s ‘Back to Business’ programme. The programme set aside some US$100 million in ad credits to give out to small businesses for free.