With Eurovision 2023 taking place next week, TikTok is encouraging Europes talented artists to take the stage on TikTok and celebrate Europes biggest musical event.

As Official Entertainment Partner of the Eurovision Song Contest, TikTok is launching Where stars get started, an ad campaign for Eurovision starring Sam Ryder, who has also been announced as TikToks official Eurovision ambassador.

Appearing now on billboards across Liverpool, where the event takes place, the campaign shines a light on how stars, like Ryder himself get started. He represented the UK last year and came second overall (having won the Judges’ vote) to Ukraine with ‘Space Man’. The 30-second ad will run on video-on-demand services, digital media and out-of-home locations until 14 May, as well as in-app on TikTok.

The advert sees Ryder reflect on his incredible journey in a few short years, from singing at weddings and posting videos singing in his mums kitchen on TikTok, to performing as a finalist at Eurovision. He tells the world that its now their chance to lift up another dreamer, embrace the journey to the Eurovision final and discover the next big thing with TikTok.

Ryder has over 14m followers and 127m likes on TikTok. He started his TikTok journey by posting acoustic covers with his own unique twists, which were duetted by celebrities like Alicia Keys, leading to him signing with Parlophone and performing at Eurovision. Hes since dominated the music industry with charting singles and international tours, and remains the most followed UK artist on TikTok.

Separately, TikTok is also running an out-of-home billboard campaign spotlighting small businesses in Liverpool. Live until 14 May, the campaign will feature @utilitygiftstore, bagel and donut store, @bagelrypool, and coffee shop, @boldstreetcoffee.

The billboards showcase a snapshot of testimonies and TikTok videos from the businesses, including how the TikTok community helped the Utility Gift Shore achieve record sales this year, and The Bagelry reach new customers across the country. The businesses will also display a TikTok Places sticker in their shop window during Eurovision to encourage customers and visitors to share their experiences of these local favourites on TikTok.

Finally, TikTok is supporting key busking sites around Liverpool at Holy Corner, Liverpool One, Sugar House Steps and at Liverpool Lime street in the coming weeks.

“TikTok is where stars get started, and thats true whether you are a wedding singer who become a global superstar like Sam Ryder, or a small business like @TheBagelry who use TikTok to connect with customers across the country,” said Alastair Boyle, Marketing Lead Europe for TikTok. “With this campaign, we want to inspire creativity and invite audiences across the globe to join the celebrations on TikTok.”