TikTok is where people find things they didn't know they wanted, one full-screen video at a time. Ads work there when they feel like the videos around them, and when every step, from the first second of the video to the last step of checkout, is measured. We plan, make and run TikTok campaigns built that way, and manage them for performance: cost per purchase and return on ad spend, not views.

Our guide How TikTok ads work covers the platform in detail.

Most campaigns rely on three formats.

A Spark Ad needs the creator's permission: they turn on ad authorisation for the post and share a code, which we add in Ads Manager.

TikTok's own guidance is short: vertical 9:16, at least 720p, sound on, and the point of the video in the first three seconds. Text on screen should be readable at five to ten words a second, and sit inside the safe zone, clear of the buttons and caption that TikTok lays over every video. Unpolished, people-led videos usually fit the feed better than studio ads.

We help you script every ad around its opening: the result first, then the problem, the proof and the offer.

A campaign has an objective, such as traffic, lead generation or sales. Its ad groups hold the budget, audience and bidding, and its ads hold the creative. TikTok says it "ranks ads by how much advertisers bid and how relevant the ads are to users", so matching creatives to relevant audiences lowers what you pay as well as raising results.

We manage TikTok for results you can bank: cost per purchase, return on ad spend and new customers. Every week we read the funnel from the first seconds of the video to the purchase:

• Hook rate, the share of impressions watched past two seconds: is the opening working?
• Click-through rate: does the video make people want to act?
• Cost per purchase and return on ad spend: is it profitable at this budget?

TikTok doesn't publish benchmark figures, and results vary widely by category, so we set targets from your own margins and compare creatives against each other.

On TikTok, creative is the main lever, and it wears out: an ad people have seen too often loses its click-through rate within days or weeks. So we test all the time, several hooks and formats at once, with a steady supply of new creatives to replace the ones that tire. The winners get more budget, and the losers shape the next brief.

TikTok's minimums are $50 a day per campaign and $20 a day per ad group. Bidding is either spend-based, with Maximum Results getting the most conversions for the budget, or goal-based, with Target cost per result aiming at a cost you set; for sales, Highest Value optimises for purchase value. We raise budgets in steps, so delivery settles between changes.

The TikTok Pixel reports what happens on your site, and the Events API sends the same events from your server, where browser settings and ad blockers can't lose them. Both send each event with the same ID, and TikTok records it once. You choose the attribution windows, for example seven days after a click and one day after a view.

To check what the ads really add, we run conversion lift studies: a random group that can't see the ads shows the sales you would have made anyway.

Plan, launch, test and scale, with creative production built into every week.

A campaign plan, creative and scripts, Spark Ads with creators, the Pixel and Events API set up and tested, weekly reporting and a monthly review. You own the ad account, the data and the creative.

TikTok Ads Manager, the TikTok Pixel and Events API, TikTok One for creator partnerships, your product catalogue for Shop and catalogue ads, and a dashboard that joins TikTok's numbers with your own sales.

Answers to the questions we hear most often about TikTok ads.