TikTok has revolutionized digital marketing with its dynamic, visually engaging platform that captivates millions globally. Understanding the right TikTok ad sizes and employing best practices is crucial for marketers aiming to enter this vibrant network.
This guide will explore essential TikTok ad sizes and best practices to maximize your campaign’s effectiveness.
Overview of TikTok Ad Types and Their Sizes
| Ad Type | Aspect Ratio | Maximum File Size | Formats |
| In-Feed | 16:9, 9:16, or square 1:1 | < 500 MB | MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI |
| TopView | 16:9, 9:16, or square 1:1 | ≤500 MB | MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI |
| Brand Takeover | 9:16 | within 500 MB | MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI |
| Branded Hashtag Challenges | 9:16 vertical | Up to 500 MB | MOV and MP4 |
TikTok offers a dynamic array of ad formats tailored to capture the attention of its diverse, fast-scrolling audience. Each ad type has specific dimensions and requirements that marketers need to understand for optimal engagement.
Here’s a detailed look at the available TikTok ad formats and their specific ad sizes.
1. In-Feed Ads
These ads appear between user videos as one scrolls through the “For You” page. They can drive clicks to websites or apps or promote interaction within TikTok. It’s effective for direct response objectives due to their native placement.
Dimensions and Requirements:
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16 or square 1:1
- Resolution: 1080×1920 pixels
- Maximum file size: < 500 MB
- Formats: MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI
2. TopView Ads
TopView ads are the initial visual a user encounters upon opening TikTok, offering a prime spot for maximum visibility. It’s known for achieving high user engagement and view rates.
Dimensions and Requirements:
- Video length: 60 seconds (9-15s are the most optimal)
- Aspect ratio: 16:9, 9:16 or square 1:1
- Video resolution: ≥ 960 x 540px, ≥40 x 960px or ≥640 x 640px
- File size: ≤500 MB
- File types: MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI
3. Brand Takeover Ads
Brand Takeover ads appear instantly when TikTok is opened, capturing full attention before turning into In-Feed ads. This format is ideal for quickly capturing user attention and building brand awareness.
Dimensions and Requirements:
- Video duration: 3-5 seconds.
- Aspect ratio: 9:16
- File types: MP4, MOV, MPEG, 3GP, and AVI
- Text description: Not supported for Brand Takeover ad type.
- File size: within 500 MB.
4. Branded Hashtag Challenges
Branded Hashtag Challenges are interactive ad formats that invite users to create content around a sponsored hashtag. This format leverages the viral nature of TikTok by encouraging widespread participation, which can dramatically amplify brand engagement and reach.
Dimensions and Requirements:
- Video duration: Maximum 60 seconds
- Aspect ratio: 9:16 vertical
- File types: MOV and MP4
- File size: Up to 500 MB
- Sound: This will be automatically played when TikTok creators click on “Join this hashtag” and create a video. However, users can still turn off the sound
5. Branded Effects
Branded Effects allow advertisers to create custom stickers, AR filters, and effects that users can add to their own videos. This ad type encourages creative interaction with the brand’s elements, enhancing user engagement and personal investment in the content they produce.
Dimensions and Requirements:
Since this ad format is a little bit more complex to execute than the default format of TikTok, you will need to keep in mind more ad specs to ensure it can work smoothly. So, let’s look at all the requirements for Branded Effect:
Brand exposure specs
- Logo: The logo display area should be within 150x130px and must only contain one logo.
- Product: The product display area must also be within 150x130px.
- Promotion: The campaign theme and slogan display area must be within 300x130px.
- Spokesperson and IP figure: The display area for these should be within 480x270px.
Branded Effect name specs
- Character limit: up to 30 English characters (10 characters is the most optimal for display) without emojis, #, and special symbols.
- You can either use an icon provided by TikTok or provide your own.
- The image of the icon must be consistent with your Branded Effect.
- Icon resolution: 162x162px (equal to export size), and the icon should feature rounded corners and include a transparent margin
- Icon safe area: 144x144px with 20px round corners.
- File type: PNG
- File size: < 60kb
6. Spark Ads
Spark Ads allows brands to boost existing organic posts by other creators, leveraging authentic content that resonates with users. They help maintain authenticity while amplifying reach and engagement, bridging organic content with paid advertising.
Dimensions and Requirements:
Uses the organic post’s original dimensions and specs
For instance, Balenciaga leveraged TikTok’s Spark Ads to enhance brand awareness, launching TopView ads with trendy sounds in the UK, France, and Italy.
These immersive ads, combined with TikTok’s Instant Page for seamless shopping, generated over 23 million impressions and an impressive 18% average CTR, achieving remarkable engagement and conversion rates.
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Best Practices for TikTok Ads
TikTok’s unique platform offers vibrant opportunities for brands to engage creatively with a diverse community. Understanding the best practices for TikTok ad sizes and creative strategies is crucial for maximizing campaign effectiveness. The following are ways to enhance your TikTok campaigns:
Ad Design and Creative Tips
1. Keeping Content Authentic and Engaging
TikTok is optimized when the content feels very real. Ads that mirror the organic, raw feel of user-generated content tend to perform better.
For example, e.l.f. Cosmetics’ #eyeslipsface campaign resonated deeply due to its authentic vibe, resulting in over 7 billion views and setting a record for the most viral campaign in TikTok history.
2. Using High-Quality Visuals and Audio
The authenticity of the visuals should not be compromised, and the videos must include high-quality visuals and clear audio. This enhances the user’s experience and keeps them engaged.
A video in high resolution, along with a crystal-clear soundtrack, can make a big difference in ad recall and viewer satisfaction. This is in line with the earlier study that found 88% of users say sound is an integral part of the TikTok experience.
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3. Leveraging TikTok Trends and Challenges
Jump on existing TikTok trends or create your own branded challenge to drive enormous engagement.
For example, Chipotle’s #GuacDance challenge encouraged users to show off their dance moves in celebration of National Avocado Day and received over 250,000 submissions for 430 million video starts.
Targeting and Audience Engagement
1. Utilizing TikTok’s Targeting Options
TikTok avails a couple of fine targeting options that, when well utilized, can enable one to reach their audience based on demographics, interests, and much more.
Using these features assures the ads reach users most likely interested in the product or service.
2. Interacting and Connecting with Your Audience via Comments
Interaction doesn’t stop at viewing. Encourage and join the conversation taking place around your ads.
With more interaction from the brands on comments and creating interactive ad content, relations with the audience improve, hence raising brand loyalty and affinity
A/B Testing and Optimization
1. Importance of Testing Different Ad Variations
A/B testing is critical in understanding what resonates best with your audience. Test different versions of your ads in terms of visuals, audio, and call-to-action messages.
This can offer valuable insights into the audience’s preferences and the impact of advertisements.
2. Analyzing Performance and Optimizing Accordingly
Keep analyzing how well your TikTok ads are doing. Tools like TikTok analytics allow tracking metrics such as views, engagement rate, and click-through rate.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in TikTok Ads
It is essential to navigate common pitfalls while creating ads for TikTok so that you do not lead yourself into less effective campaigns. Here are some critical mistakes to avoid:
- Overly Promotional Content: People on TikTok like authentic and fun content rather than blatant advertisements. Overly promotional content tends to get relatively low engagement.
- Ignoring TikTok’s Creative Guidelines: TikTok has creative guidelines set to ensure the content is safe and friendly for all its users. Not following them may lead to ad disapproval or limited reach.
Case Study: Moodi’s TikTok Spark Ads Campaign
Moodi is a New Zealand-based wellness brand that focuses on creating science-backed functional blends that enhance sleep, stress management, and energy. Moodi aimed to boost website conversions by engaging TikTok’s vast audience with Spark Ads.
These ads seamlessly integrate into the ‘For You’ feed with a clickable CTA for direct website actions, enhancing the user experience.
Strategy and Execution
Moodi deployed the Website Conversion Objective, targeting ‘Add to Cart’ actions using a Maximum Delivery bid strategy to use their budget efficiently. Integration with TikTok for Shopify provided insights to target potential buyers better.
Their content strategy emphasized authenticity and consistency, ensuring strong resonance and engagement with the TikTok community.
This concise summary efficiently outlines Moodi’s strategic use of TikTok Spark Ads to drive conversions, maintaining essential details for a clear understanding of their digital marketing efforts.
Results
The campaign ran for a month in January 2024 and achieved impressive results-
- Over 7.1 million impressions
- Achieved over 192,000 video views with full viewer retention.
- A notable rise in webpage clicks and completed purchases, which led to a positive Return on Ad Spend
- Moodi’s TikTok campaign CPMs were significantly lower than those of other platforms, showcasing the cost-effectiveness of TikTok’s advertising solutions.
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Tools and Resources for Creating TikTok Ads
With the right tools and resources, it is possible to practically develop TikTok ads that reach the target audience while still being within the app’s specifications:
- TikTok Creative Center: This resource provides insights into trending content, music, and creative best practices. It’s invaluable for aligning your ads with current trends and maximizing engagement.
- TikTok Ads Manager: Comes with intelligent tools purposely designed for ad creation, management, and optimization. Detailed guidelines on TikTok ad sizes, formats, and creative recommendations can be found in detail in the Ads Manager.
- Third-Party Tools: Platforms like Canva and Predis.ai offer easy-to-use templates and design tools specifically tailored for TikTok ads. These tools help you maintain the required ad dimensions and quality.
Conclusion
Understanding the correct TikTok ad sizes and best practices is a big part of building a campaign that works in your favor. These guidelines boost ad performance, enabling brands to provide better engagement and results. Leading industry brands like Gymshark and Fenty Beauty have found an increase in brand interaction through these strategies, proving the effectiveness of well-crafted, platform-specific ads.
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