TikTok ads through chat: video campaigns reference

This page covers your own TikTok Ads account. Researching competitors' TikTok ads is at the end of the page.

Before you start

TikTok has three requirements that no launch can skip:

1. A connected TikTok Ads account. Say Connect my TikTok Ads account in the chat, or open Settings, then Connected accounts, in the dashboard. You grant access on TikTok's own screen.
2. A payment method on the ad account, under Billing in TikTok Ads Manager. Without one, TikTok refuses every change with "Complete payment". See Complete payment.
3. An identity. TikTok no longer allows ads under a made-up name. Your TikTok account must be linked to the ad account as an identity, in TikTok Ads Manager under Assets, then Identity. The chat checks this before the preview and tells you if it is missing. See identity required.

If you connected TikTok before 18 August 2026, reconnect it once under Settings, Connected accounts, to pick up the newer permissions (pixel lookup, ad diagnosis and lead campaigns). The chat tells you when that is the cause of a refusal.

A video you own

TikTok ads are video. The launch needs a video that is yours, from one of three places:

• Your Creative Library in the dashboard (Creatives in the sidebar), referred to by name. This is the easiest route, and it is where AdWhispr's finished AI videos land.
• A direct link to an MP4 you own.
• A video already in your TikTok asset library, by its TikTok video id.

A competitor's video is never used. A shoot-ready script made from a competitor's TikTok ad (see research, below) is something to film, not a file to launch.

Launch a video campaign

One request builds the campaign, the ad group (targeting, budget and schedule), uploads your video into your TikTok asset library and creates the ad.

What you can set:

• Objective: traffic (default), sales, awareness or video views. See sales campaigns for what sales needs.
• Caption (up to 100 characters, no emoji). Written from your brand profile when you leave it out.
• Landing page. Defaults to your saved website.
• Button: Learn More (default), Shop Now, Sign Up or Download Now.
• Targeting: location, age, gender, interests and existing custom audiences. See below.

Creative tests

Name two to five videos from your library and each becomes its own ad in one ad group. TikTok shifts that ad group's budget toward the video that performs.

Read the results per ad after a few days and keep the winner. Full walkthrough: running a creative test.

Targeting

• Location. If you say nothing, the ad group targets the country your ad account is registered in. Name a country, region or city and the chat looks up TikTok's location id and checks the account is allowed to target it. TikTok clears each account for certain locations; if it refuses one, name a country you are cleared for, usually your own.
• Age and gender. TikTok uses age buckets; the closest ones to what you ask for are applied. Minimum age 18.
• Interests. The chat looks up TikTok's interest categories and shows you the matches.
• Custom audiences. Existing TikTok audiences in the account can be targeted for retargeting; ask the chat to list them.

Ids are never guessed and never shared with another platform: a Meta interest id means nothing on TikTok.

Sales campaigns with a pixel

A sales campaign optimizes toward purchases tracked by your TikTok pixel. Ask the chat to list the account's pixels; each one shows the conversion events it has. Name the pixel, and the launcher picks a purchase-type event from the ones that exist on it (or tells you the real options if it needs a choice).

Lead campaigns can also be created from the chat: the campaign and ad group are built paused, and the ad itself needs a video plus a published Instant Form, which you add in TikTok Ads Manager. Leads are collected by TikTok and downloaded there.

Budget minimums

TikTok enforces an ad group daily budget of at least 20 in the account's currency. Launches from AdWhispr put the budget on the ad group, so 20 a day is the floor for any launch. TikTok's separate campaign-level minimum is 50 a day; AdWhispr does not set a campaign budget, so it does not apply to your launches. Budget changes are previewed, then applied where the budget lives.

Pause, resume and budgets

• Pause stops spend immediately, no confirmation.
• Resume goes live and starts spending; the chat warns you and waits for your confirmation. TikTok then reviews the ad before delivery.
• Budget changes are previewed, then applied.

Smart+ campaigns (TikTok's automated buying) cannot be edited through TikTok's API. Change their budget or status in TikTok Ads Manager; retrying in the chat will keep failing.

Performance reads

Ask how your TikTok ads are doing and the chat reads spend, impressions, clicks and conversions for the last 30 days, or a date range you give. The same numbers live on the Ad Campaigns page in the dashboard. See reading performance and cutting wasted spend.

Research competitor TikTok ads

Ask what TikTok ads a brand is running and the chat pulls them from TikTok's public ad library, longest-running first, with the videos playing inline. Two honest limits: the library is European in scope (last 90 days, across the EEA), so brands that do not advertise in Europe show little or nothing, and it exposes no spend or impressions, so days running is the performance signal. Big brands often have several fragmented advertiser accounts; the result lists the other matches so you can point at the right one.

From any of those ads, ask for a shoot-ready script: the chat samples real frames, reads the hook, structure, pacing and product moments, and writes a shot-by-shot script that keeps what works and swaps in your product. It is free and it is text. Film it, upload the video to your Creative Library, and launch it here.

Frequently asked questions

Can AdWhispr make the TikTok video for me?

Yes, in the AdWhispr dashboard: turn a competitor's video ad, your own script or your niche into a finished vertical video with a native AI voice. It lands in your Creative Library and launches on TikTok by name. See the cloning guide.

Why does TikTok say "Complete payment"?

The ad account has no payment method. Add one under Billing in TikTok Ads Manager and run the launch again.

Why do I need an identity?

TikTok requires ads to run under a real TikTok account linked to the ad account. Link yours under Assets, then Identity, in TikTok Ads Manager.

What is the smallest budget I can set?

20 a day per ad group, in the account's currency. That is TikTok's floor.

Where do the ads target if I do not say?

The country your TikTok ad account is registered in.