Bigo Ads: A Guide to the Platform's Features and Moderation

Bigo Ads is an advertising platform owned by Bigo Technology, offering ad placements in apps such as Likee, Bigo Live, and Imo.im. Similar to TikTok, this platform serves as a fresh advertising channel, providing various formats (Native Ad, Native Video, and Interstitial Videos) across five different placement options, including in-chat ads and stories.

The platform is known for its lenient approach to moderation, allowing many types of offers to be promoted without resorting to dubious methods. However, black-hat schemes and adult content will not pass moderation. In general, the platform maintains a relatively flexible stance toward affiliate marketing strategies.

Functionality-wise, Bigo Ads is highly comparable to TikTok. Likee, being a major competitor to TikTok in several countries, shares similar audiences and promotional methods.

Approximately 80% of Bigo Ads users are on Android devices, making mobile traffic a key focus for advertisers.

It’s also important to note that Bigo Ads primarily targets a younger demographic, as the core app, Likee, is aimed at a youth audience. For instance, in CIS countries, about 70% of users are under 45 years old, and this trend is consistent across most regions.

The Specifics of Ad Placement and Audience Characteristics Depend on the Chosen Placement:

• Likee: The primary audience consists of young people focused on entertaining and educational short videos. Users are highly sensitive to the first few seconds of a video, its energy, and trending music. The audience is similar in composition to TikTok. The app is particularly popular in CIS countries and Asia.
  
  
• Bigo Live: The platform has 400 million registered users, most of whom are located in Asia and the U.S. Content on Bigo Live varies widely, including recipes, dances, fortune-telling, and advice. While the majority of the audience consists of teenagers, some adult content can be found as well. As a result, the platform caters to both young users and older, affluent men.
  
  
• Imo.im: A messaging app for communication and calls, popular primarily in Arab countries. The audience here is older and more financially capable, preferring native and understated advertisements.
  
  
• Media Network: Bigo Ads also allows ads to be placed on local websites, with the specifics and strategies depending on the particular region (GEO).
  
  

The platform's audience is young, active, and not oversaturated with ads, providing excellent opportunities for targeting in specific regions. Additionally, moderation on the platform remains lenient.

Which Verticals Are Relevant?

Gambling

The gambling vertical was under strict ban for a long time, unlike many other, even more grey, sectors. However, after lengthy negotiations, this vertical has now been unlocked, and the platform representatives are ready to support the promotion of such projects. The share of gambling projects in Bigo Ads is still small. As for iGaming, it performs particularly well in LATAM, Asia, and MENA regions. While traffic from Tier-1 countries is less significant, it is still present.

Nutra

Nutraceuticals show strong results both in the CIS and Asia, making it an excellent choice for those looking to test Bigo Ads in international markets.

The Before/After approach is particularly effective for offers that focus on physical transformations. Bigo Ads' moderation easily passes such advertising materials, so feel free to experiment with them.

Ad creatives that include visuals illustrating the transformation process or the contents of a course tend to perform exceptionally well, as they resonate strongly with users looking for tangible results.

This approach is especially effective for promoting information products (infoproducts) and easily passes through moderators’ checks.

Info Products

For the user interface, videos with real people presenting the product are ideal. This can be either a personal testimonial or a mention of news from the landing page.

What types of content are prohibited for promotion on the platform?

• Materials with elements of violence, bloody scenes, and horror.
• Pornographic content.
• Images with nudity.
• Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.
• Narcotic substances.
• Medical services and products, including online pharmacies.
• Content related to sensitive topics: images of national leaders, flags, portraits of politicians, speech recordings, and more.
• Interface elements of competitor apps, such as IMO or Likee.
• Publication of personal information of others (e.g., passport details, bank card information, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.).
• Use of logos or mention of brands like IMO, Likee, and BIGO.
• Absolute statements such as "100%", "best in the world", "national level", "guaranteed results", and similar claims.
• Using two or more punctuation marks consecutively, such as "!!!", "???".
• Incorrect or inappropriate use of symbols and punctuation marks (e.g., "Fl@wers"
• , "Flowers!!!", "FLOWERS", "fl*owers").
• All words in a slogan written in uppercase letters, except for commonly used abbreviations (such as USA, ASAP), coupon codes, brand names, or product names.
• Copywriting with mistakes, blurry or poor-quality images.