Ads · checked 10 October 2026
TikTok ad formats: every type, with live ad examples
TikTok ad formats split three ways: auction ads (In-Feed, Spark, Search), reserved formats (TopView, Branded Mission, Branded Effects) and Shop formats (GMV Max, LIVE Shopping). TokConnect pulls live examples: Creative Center top ads and brand posts.
The TikTok ad formats, grouped by how you buy them
The real split between types of TikTok ads is how you buy them. Auction formats run from TikTok Ads Manager with your own budget. Reserved and branded formats go through a TikTok sales representative. Shop formats sit on top of a TikTok Shop. Every definition below is TikTok's own wording from its help centre, checked on 10 October 2026.
In-Feed ads
TikTok files these as "In-feed auction ads, such as Spark and Non-Spark". A Non-Spark ad is a video you upload as an ad. TikTok recommends vertical 9:16, and the video can run up to 10 minutes.
Spark Ads
TikTok calls Spark Ads "a native ad format" built on organic posts. You can "Publish ads using your own TikTok account's posts", or other creators' posts with their authorization. More in TikTok Spark Ads.
Search Ads
A campaign "that uses keywords to help you reach people searching for specific terms", shown on TikTok's search results page. See TikTok Search Ads.
TopView
The ad that opens with "the initial 3-second zoom-in takeover, and a transition to an in-feed video experience." Length is 5 to 60 seconds, and TikTok recommends 9 to 15. TopView creatives need pre-approval.
Branded Mission
"Branded Mission is a TikTok ad solution that enables you to crowdsource content from communities on TikTok". The best creator videos are then run as ads. You set it up through your TikTok sales representative.
Branded Effects
"Branded Effects is the name of TikTok's commercial visual effects such as filters and lenses." An effects panel can put yours at the top of the camera tray.
GMV Max
"Starting July 2025, GMV Max will be the default and only supported campaign type for TikTok Shop Ads." It comes as Product GMV Max and LIVE GMV Max, one ad account per Shop at a time.
LIVE Shopping Ads
These "help people on TikTok discover and watch your LIVE videos", and appear in the feed, Shopping Center and search.
Video Shopping Ads
Still available with Showcase as the destination; TikTok Shop is no longer a supported destination for new ones. Existing campaigns keep running.
Sources: TikTok Business Help Center pages for In-Feed ads, Spark Ads, Search Ads, TopView, Branded Mission, Branded Effects, GMV Max migration, GMV Max guidelines and LIVE Shopping Ads, all checked 10 October 2026.
TikTok ad examples running now
TikTok's Creative Center keeps a public Top Ads list. TikTok says every ad on it is "authorized by advertisers inside TikTok Ads Manager". On 10 October 2026 the list held four ads and returned full detail for three. They are below, with the markets, views and length TikTok shows.
Two things stand out. All three are 9:16 vertical at 576 by 1024 pixels. And they are short: 12, 15 and 30 seconds.
The top ad is also a post on the brand's own account
The MILO ad's caption is word for word the caption of a post on @milo_indonesia, and the two open on the same frame. That post carries TikTok's ad flag, runs 15 seconds like the ad, and shows 139.1 million views. An ad served from a brand's own post is what TikTok calls a Spark Ad. Everything public points the same way: the most-viewed Creative Center ad of the day looks like a Spark Ad.
TikTok Creative Center Top Ads list and the @milo_indonesia profile, pulled with TokConnect on 10 October 2026. The fourth listed ad returned no detail. Brand names come from each ad's caption and cover. A week of these lists sits on TikTok top ads this week.
Show me this week's TikTok Creative Center top ads for [your industry]: brand, markets, views and length, and what the first frame shows.
Pull top adsInside the advertisers' own feeds
Creative Center shows a handful of ads. The advertisers' own accounts show the rest of the plan. We pulled the recent posts of the three brands behind today's top ads and kept the 71 posted since 1 August 2026. TikTok's public data marks each post with an ad flag.
Posts that passed 1 million views
The gap is the whole point of Spark Ads. MILO's eight flagged posts have a median of 9.25 million views; its 22 unflagged posts, 5,734. Paid reach goes behind a few posts that already exist on the account, so the post and, in TikTok's words, "their features" carry over into the ad.
Pull the last 30 TikTok posts from [competitor brand]. Which carry TikTok's ad flag? Compare their views and length with the posts that don't.
Check a rivalPatterns across the ads we pulled
Four things we measured across the 3 Creative Center ads, the 43 flagged brand posts and 3 ad transcripts. A small sample from three big advertisers, so read it as what good looks like today, not a law.
1. Length: most stay under a minute
2. Hook: the problem first, the brand later
speech starts brand named question asked · track runs 0 to 20 s
3. Text on the first frame
7 of 8 covers on this page carry on-screen text. The odd one out is the Bio-Oil Creative Center ad, which opens on its logo. MILO PRO's biggest post opens on a viewer's comment shown as a reply sticker. The Gemini Creative Center ad carries a note, in Portuguese, that some elements were made or edited with AI.
4. Many cuts of one message
Bio-Oil USA posted 12 flagged posts in 25 minutes on 1 October, built on 6 captions. Three cuts of "Dermatologist recommended" reached 56,300, 241,900 and 1.2 million views: a 21x spread for the same line. Three cuts of "My #1 everything product" ran from 228,000 to 3.3 million. The best of those is a photo post, not a video.
Covers coded by eye; counts and the 25-minute window are in the evidence file.
TikTok ads best practices, checked against real ads
TikTok publishes creative best practices for performance ads. Here is each rule in TikTok's words next to what the ads above actually did. These are the TikTok creative best practices worth keeping.
| TikTok's guidance | What the sample shows |
|---|---|
| "Introduce your content proposition in the first 3 seconds for better recall and awareness." "Prioritize your hook in the first 6 seconds". | All three Gemini transcripts start talking at 0 seconds on the viewer's problem. The brand name waits until 8.1 or 16.9 seconds. |
| The basics: "orienting vertically at 9:16", "shooting at least 720P resolution", "using sound/ music". | All three Creative Center ads are 9:16. |
| "Use captions or text overlays to provide context to your ad." "We recommend displaying 5-10 words per second when using text." | 7 of 8 covers carry on-screen text, usually one short line. |
| "We recommend featuring people such as creators, employees, or customers to capture attention and increase engagement." | 5 of 8 covers put a person in the frame. The 225.8M MILO PRO post answers a viewer comment on camera. |
| "We suggest between 3-5 different creatives per ad group and 3-5 diversified ad groups per campaign." | Bio-Oil ran up to three cuts per caption; the views of one caption spread 21x. |
| For TopView: "Video Duration: 5-60s, recommend 9-15s." | The Creative Center ads ran 12, 15 and 30 seconds; 11 of 38 flagged brand posts sit in the 9 to 15 second range. |
| For Shop ads: "Add a new creative into the ad group ideally once a week or when noticing creative fatigue". | Gemini's account shows 23 flagged posts between 20 August and 28 September. |
TikTok Business Help Center: Creative best practices for performance ads, TopView specifications and Video Shopping Ads best practices, checked 10 October 2026. For opening lines that rank in search, see TikTok hooks.
Get the transcripts of the three most-viewed ad posts from [competitor brand]. When does each one name the brand, and what does the first line promise?
Time their hooksWhich format for which job
TopView. A 3-second full-screen takeover that turns into an in-feed video, reserved through sales, with pre-approval. Plan 9 to 15 seconds and a first frame that works full screen.
In-Feed and Spark Ads. Self-serve in Ads Manager. Spark lets a post that already does well on your account carry the ad, as MILO's did.
Search Ads. Bid on the phrases people type. TokConnect shows TikTok's own weekly search counts for those phrases first.
Branded Mission, with Branded Effects as an add-on when you want people to film with your filter or lens.
GMV Max for products and LIVE, and LIVE Shopping Ads when you stream. Feed it 3 to 5 creatives and refresh weekly.
Research the angle before you brief the ad
A format is a container. What goes in it decides the result, and that is where TokConnect does the legwork. It pulls the current Creative Center top ads, a rival's posts with TikTok's ad flag, transcripts for hook timing, and TikTok's own search counts for the phrases your buyers type.
Searches tell you which angle has demand. "ad settings on tiktok" drew 295,270 searches in the 7 days to 10 October, and "ai ugc video ads" 60,406. Run your product's phrases the same way, then brief the ad on the one with demand. Ads teams use it like this on TikTok for advertisers, and plans start at $49 a month on the pricing page.
How many people search TikTok for [your product category] each week? List 20 phrases with 7-day searches and video counts, and mark the ones with no videos as ad angles.
Find ad angles| Ad research job | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| Creative Center top ads: markets, views, length | TokConnect |
| A rival's posts and which carry the ad flag | TokConnect |
| Transcripts, for hook timing | TokConnect, where TikTok has captions |
| Weekly search counts for your angles | TokConnect |
| A rival's ad spend, CPMs, click-through rates | Not in TokConnect |
| Your own campaign results | TikTok Ads Manager |
Questions about TikTok ad formats
What are the main types of TikTok ads?
Three groups. Auction ads you buy in Ads Manager: In-Feed (Non-Spark), Spark Ads and Search Ads. Reserved and branded formats through a sales rep: TopView, Branded Mission and Branded Effects. Shop formats for TikTok Shop sellers: GMV Max, LIVE Shopping Ads and Video Shopping Ads with Showcase.
How long should a TikTok ad be?
TikTok recommends 9 to 15 seconds for TopView and allows Non-Spark In-Feed videos up to 10 minutes. The top Creative Center ads on 10 October 2026 ran 12, 15 and 30 seconds, and the median flagged post from three big advertisers ran 28 seconds.
What is the difference between In-Feed ads and TopView?
In-Feed ads are auction ads that run in the feed, bought self-serve in Ads Manager. TopView is reserved through TikTok sales and opens with a 3-second zoom-in takeover, then turns into an in-feed video. TopView creatives need pre-approval.
Where can I see real TikTok ad examples?
TikTok's Creative Center Top Ads list is public, and TokConnect pulls it with markets, views and length. Brand accounts are the other place: on 10 October 2026, 43 of 71 recent posts from Bio-Oil USA, MILO Indonesia and Google Gemini carried TikTok's ad flag.
How we got these numbers
We pulled public TikTok data through TokConnect on 10 October 2026:
creative_seo_listandcreative_seo_detailfor Creative Center Top Ads (4 listed, 3 with detail);search_usersto find the advertisers' accounts, andcreator_postsfor the last 30 posts of @biooilusa, @milo_indonesia and @googlegemini;video_transcriptfor three @googlegemini ad posts, andvideo_detailfor the covers shown;search_topicsfor "tiktok ads" and "ugc ads".
The ad flag is the one TikTok returns on each public post. Search counts are TikTok's global 7-day search popularity from Creator Search Insights; every phrase quoted is under 1 million and treated as a typed search. Format definitions and best practices are quoted from TikTok's Business Help Center, checked the same day. Individual creators are not named. Open the data.