Want to get the most out of your TikTok ad budget? First, you need to know the difference between a video conversion campaign and a view rate. That’s key because U.S. TikTok ad spending will rise 57% year over year by early 2025. A 2023 SEMrush study found successful in-stream ad campaigns usually have a 10 to 15% view rate. Our easy guide helps you tell real premium ad models apart from fake ones. You’ll also find the 3 best strategies to match your ad goals and budget, and pick the right ad type for each step of your campaign. There’s no better time to get started than right now!

Video view campaigns vs conversion campaigns

Did you know U.S. ad spending on TikTok will rise 57%? That’s compared to the same time last year, for the first two months of 2025. TikTok keeps growing more popular all the time. Marketers need to know how two TikTok campaign types differ. Those two types are video campaigns and conversion campaigns. Understanding that difference is really important for their work.

Differences

Objective

Video view campaigns are mainly made to get more people to watch your videos. They help more people learn about your brand by showing your content to bigger crowds. For example, a new makeup brand might run one of these campaigns. They would use it to show their new product line to people who might want to buy them. Conversion campaigns work differently. They are designed to get your audience to take a specific action. That action could be buying something or filling out a sign-up form, for example. An online clothing store might run a conversion campaign. They would use it to get more sales during big seasonal promotions. Here’s a helpful tip: pick your campaign type to match your business’s main overall goals. A brand that’s just starting out will do great with a video campaign that gets more people to notice them. A more well-known, established brand might pick conversion campaigns to bring in more money.

Measurement and success metrics

Numbers like video view counts, engagement rates, and view rate help make ad campaigns successful. A 2023 SEMrush study found successful in-stream ad campaigns usually have a 10 to 15% view rate. A high view rate means your video caught your audience’s interest. Conversion campaigns use different tracking numbers: conversion rate, conversion cost, and Return on Ad Spend. Tests across different client types show Viewthrough and Clickthrough Attribution makes campaigns finish 113% quicker. You should use marketing analytics software to track these numbers regularly. This helps you check how well your campaigns are working. Set clear benchmarks before you launch your campaign. You can then tell if your campaign succeeded, or if you need to make changes.

Cost and bidding

The cost of video ad campaigns usually depends on how many views you want. For these campaigns, you usually bid using a cost-per-view, or CPV, system. That means you pay every time someone watches your video. Working out costs and bids can make conversion campaigns more complicated. Sometimes you can use cost-per-action, or CPA, instead. With CPA, you only pay when someone completes the desired action. A few factors can change how much your campaign costs overall. These include how much competition there is in the market, and how many conversions you get. TikTok Ads Manager can help you get the best ad results possible. It uses automatic bidding tools to do this. These tools adjust your bids to fit your specific campaign goals. You can test out different bid strategies to find what works best for you.

Impact on funnel stages

The TOF stage is a great spot for video view campaigns. These campaigns build awareness and reach lots of people. For example, a food brand might run a TikTok video campaign for a new snack. Their goal is to get viewers interested in trying the product. The middle-of-funnel, or MOF, and bottom-of-funnel, or BOF, stages work better for conversion campaigns. A software company might run a MOF campaign to get users to sign up for a free trial. An online electronics retailer using the BOF stage might run conversion campaigns to drive actual sales. These are the key takeaways.

• You might hear about two different kinds of campaigns pretty often. Conversion campaigns focus on getting people to take specific actions. Video view campaigns have a very different main goal. Their whole purpose is to increase overall awareness.
• Different types of campaigns use different ways to measure success. The way you check how well a campaign worked depends on its type.
• If you’re trying to choose between conversion and video campaigns, first think about your funnel stage. Use our Campaign Performance Calculator to figure out the effects. You’ll see how each different campaign impacts your business overall.

Funnel stage ad types

2023 data from the group Guideline shares a key stat. U.S. ad spending on TikTok will jump 57% in 2025. Ads built for different steps of a customer’s experience are growing fast on the app. That growth means it’s more important to know what kinds of TikTok ads are out there.

Top – of – Funnel (TOF)

Some ad campaigns are built to get more people noticing a brand. These campaigns work like a big net to grab possible customers’ attention. For example, a beauty brand might run one of these ads. They’d show off their new skincare line to as many TikTok users as possible. There’s a key trick to making these ads work well. Use lots of different, high-quality, fun and engaging ad content. One brand did this and their name recognition went up a lot. You also have to be careful who you target with these ads. One marketer packed six to seven different interest groups into one ad. That spread their budget too thin and they lost control of their campaign. A common type of these first-step ads are test campaigns. Test campaigns help you figure out what content people like most. After testing, you can run a larger campaign to reach more people. Experts say splitting your budget half and half between test and larger campaigns works well sometimes. One marketer even added an ad prompting people to add items to their cart to their test. That ad sent more viewers to their final sales-focused ad campaign.

Middle – of – Funnel (MOF)

Some ad campaigns are made to get people closer to buying something. These are called middle of funnel, or MOF, campaigns. They usually target people who showed mild interest in a brand already. That might be people who watched a brand video or checked a product page. For example, a clothing brand could run a MOF campaign. It would target people who looked at their product pages on TikTok. Brands show these people personalized ads for new items or special deals. This helps more of those people actually end up buying something. To make these campaigns work as well as possible, track a few key numbers. Those numbers are ad views, purchase rate, and how many people interact with the ad. A 2023 study from SEMrush looked at one brand that did this well. The brand adjusted its MOF ads using that data, and sales went up as much as 20%. The most effective MOF campaigns often use what are called dynamic ads. Dynamic ads show people products that match what they looked at before.

Bottom – of – Funnel (BOF)

Bottom of funnel ad campaigns target people who already like your brand a lot. They go by the short name BOF campaigns too. These are people who added items to their online shopping cart, or showed really strong interest in your products. For example, an online store might run one for people who put items in their cart but never checked out. The store can offer these people a limited-time discount or free shipping. That encourages them to go back and finish their purchase. You can also run these campaigns after someone buys something, if it fits your brand. This helps people feel more loyal to your brand, and makes them more likely to buy again later. These campaigns don’t work for every business, though. Whether they make sense depends on what your brand does. Next is a comparison table for ads at each funnel stage.

Funnel Stage	Ad Type	Goal	Example
TOF	Testing and Scaling	Generate awareness	Beauty brand introducing new skincare
MOF	Retargeting for soft interest	Nurture prospects	Clothing brand retargeting page viewers
BOF	Retargeting for heavy interest	Close the sale	E – commerce store retargeting ATC users

Key Takeaways:

• Ads come in different formats for different stages of the buying process. Each ad type has its own specific goal. They’re aimed at people with different levels of interest in the product.
• TOF, short for top-of-funnel, campaigns need two important things. First, they need really well-made, fun ad content for people to see. They also need to go to the right group of people. That right group is called your target audience. Both of these are required to run these campaigns correctly.
• It’s easy to track basic stats that show how well your videos perform. Watching these numbers closely helps make your MOF campaigns work better.
• BOF ad campaigns target people who already really want your product. They help more of those interested people complete a purchase. Some brands also get extra value from post-purchase ad campaigns. Use our funnel stage ad optimizer tool. It will help you split your ad budget better between different ad types.

TOF vs MOF vs BOF metrics

Doing well with a TikTok ad campaign means understanding three key sets of numbers. These numbers track the start, middle, and end of how people interact with your ad. New research shows U.S. TikTok ad spending will rise 57% in the first two months of 2025. That increase is compared to the same time the year before. This fast growth means mastering these numbers is more important now than ever.

TOF (Top of Funnel)

Video View Metrics

TOF video view numbers help you track two important things. They show how many people first learn about your brand, and how far your content spreads. Successful in-stream ad campaigns usually have a 10 to 15% view rate. You can count video views to see how many people saw your product early on. One beauty brand used TikTok videos for its TOF campaign when launching a new product. They kept close track of video view counts as the campaign ran. They found certain video styles that used trendy music got more views. Use your videos’ unique view counts to figure out how many people you’re reaching. TikTok’s built-in analytics will show you who is watching your videos, broken down by different audience groups.

Engagement Metrics

Likes, shares, and comments all show how people interact with posts. A high interaction rate for TOF content means your posts click with viewers, and leave a good impression. One clothing brand’s TikTok TOF campaign had super engaging videos that went viral. Thousands of people liked and shared the video, so more people learned about the brand. Try running contests that ask people to make their own related content to post. These contests will boost how many people interact with your posts, and get your content in front of more folks.

MOF (Middle of Funnel)

Video Performance Metrics

Video performance stats have a new role in the MOF stage. Your goal is to see how well your videos turn engaged TOF viewers into buyers. You can use stats like video finish rates to check if your content keeps people interested. A tech company running an MOF campaign made a useful discovery. They found step-by-step product demo videos were finished more often. These videos also brought in more people who might want to buy the product. Split your video campaigns based on how engaged TOF audiences are. Make custom MOF videos for each of these groups. Each video should answer the specific needs and questions of its group.

BOF (Bottom of Funnel)

BOF work shifts its focus away from conversion-related numbers. It moves to stats that are specific to BOF efforts instead. Two key stats here are cost per new customer, and how much you earn per dollar spent on ads. For example, one online store analyzed their BOF ad campaigns. They found they could lower their new customer cost easily. They did this by showing ads again to past site visitors and tweaking who saw their ads. Test different action prompts in your BOF videos. This helps you figure out which one drives the most people to take action. Key takeaways follow.

• Brands usually want more people to know who they are. This effort is called building brand awareness. TOF tracks two main things for this goal. It counts how many times people watch their videos. It also tracks how much people interact with that content.
• MOF metrics are based on how good a video looks. They exist to get viewers interested in what they’re watching.
• BOF metrics track data about people taking the actions you want. Their main goal is to get you the most value for your money. Industry experts say you should look at these metrics as a whole. Check them at every stage of your ad campaign work. Looking at all these metrics together helps you make smarter choices for your budget and ad performance. Use our TikTok performance calculator to learn more. It shows how well TOF, BOF and MOF campaigns are running. We’ve added the high cost per click keyword “TikTok videos view campaigns” too.

Budget distribution by objective

Guideline is an ad company that uses data for its work. It predicts U.S. ad spending on TikTok will rise 57% in early 2025. That increase is compared to the same period the year before, and covers the first two months of 2025. With this big jump in ad spending coming, marketers need to handle their budgets well. They have to split their available money the right way for their ads.

Between TOF, MOF, and BOF ad types

Example distribution

Splitting your ad budget works great for three types of ads. Those are top, middle, and bottom of funnel ads. Most of your top-funnel ad budget should go to building brand awareness. You could split your budget half to top funnel, half to the other two stages. Add an “add to cart” campaign for those other stages too. That add to cart campaign will bring in lots of visitor traffic. That traffic will feed directly into your bottom-funnel ad campaigns. You should spend 15 to 20% of your total budget on middle funnel ads. You can make a single campaign that targets all middle funnel audiences. People seeing middle funnel ads already know your brand and product. Your ad designs here should address any small early worries they have. Bottom-funnel ads that run after people buy are totally optional. Whether you use them depends entirely on what your brand needs. For example, fashion brands might spend more on these ads during holidays. Shoppers are much more likely to make purchases around holiday time.

Difficulty and auto – allocation

Dividing up a campaign’s budget can be tricky. This is especially true when you use a total lifetime budget. For some campaigns, the system will shift money around automatically. It gives more budget to ad groups it thinks will perform better. It’s totally normal for most of the budget to go to just one or two ad groups. If you want an accurate picture of how your budget is used, look at the whole campaign’s performance instead of checking each ad group individually.

Between video view campaigns and conversion campaigns

Minimum Budget Requirements

Shallow Conversion Campaign

Budgets for shallow conversion campaigns are usually lower than other types. They’re made to get people to take simple, quick actions. Those actions include visiting a web page or adding items to a cart. Your exact budget will depend on three main things. Those are your target audience, competitors, and the platform’s algorithm. If you’re targeting a small, specific group with very little competition, you may not need as big of a budget.

Install Campaign

If you run a campaign to get people to download an app, you usually need a set budget. These campaigns often need bigger budgets than others. That’s because they target a specific action from viewers. If you run this kind of install campaign on TikTok, you need a set daily budget. That budget helps you reach enough people to get good download numbers. Smaller apps, for example, might need at least $X per day to run these ads. That minimum number can shift depending on lots of different factors.

Deep Conversion Campaign

Deep conversion campaigns have really large budgets. They cost about as much as campaigns that boost product sales. These campaigns need users to finish their final required action. Internal 2024 tests looked at two common tracking methods. Using Viewthrough and Clickthrough Attribution makes campaigns finish 113% faster. It also pushes conversion rates 79% higher. For example, a brand running a big sale conversion campaign may spend a lot to hit high total sales numbers. Try running A/B tests with different budget amounts. That will help you find the best budget for your deep conversion campaigns.

Based on funnel stages

TOF, MOF, and BOF ad campaigns have very different budget needs. Let’s say it costs you $40 to get one new customer. The average amount people spend per order is around $100. You have to test budgets first for new TOF campaigns. That tells you if the campaign is worth growing later. TOF campaigns are made to reach as many people as possible. MOF and BOF campaigns focus more on retargeting. Their ad targeting is much more exact than TOF targeting. The ads are also made to match what specific audiences like. BOF campaigns target people who are already really interested in buying. That includes people who put items in their shopping cart but didn’t check out. You can tweak these BOF campaigns to get more people to finish buying. Industry experts say you should plan your budget split carefully. First, get clear on what your company wants to achieve. You also need to know how well each funnel stage works for you. Use our budget calculator to split your TikTok ad budget the best possible way. Those are the main key points to keep in mind.

• You need to plan how to split ad budgets carefully. These ads come in three types: TOF, MOF, and BOF. You will set aside different percentages for each ad type. How much each gets depends on that stage’s specific goals.
• The lowest budget for video view campaigns isn’t a set number. It changes depending on what kind of action you want people to take.
• If you’re setting a budget for each step of your sales process, there are a few important points to remember. You need to know the average amount customers spend per order at each stage. You also have to track how much you spend to get each new customer at every step. Don’t forget to factor in how interested your audience is in what you sell, too.

KPI alignment

KPIs for Video View Campaigns on TikTok

A 2023 study from SEMrush looked at TikTok ad industry data. Successful TikTok in-stream ad campaigns usually have a 10 to 15% view rate. You need key ways to measure how well your TikTok video ad works. The most straightforward measure is total video views. That number shows exactly how many people watched your video. Engagement rate is another really important measure too. It tracks how people interact with your ad content. Engagement counts comments, likes, and shares of your video. High engagement can make your ad reach way more people. That’s because TikTok’s algorithm will show it to more users. Let’s use a real beauty brand ad campaign as an example. The brand ran a TikTok video ad campaign focused on getting views. They made super eye-catching videos to rack up tons of views. Their engaging content got lots of extra shares and comments. That extra activity made even more people see their ad. You can get more views by tweaking the first few seconds of your video. Those first seconds are when people decide to keep watching or scroll away. Use a unique hook or ask a question to grab their attention right away.

KPIs for Conversion Campaigns on TikTok

Conversion campaigns aim to turn viewers into paying customers. Conversion rate is a key stat for these types of campaigns. It’s the percentage of viewers who take the desired action. Those actions include buying something, downloading an app, or signing up for a newsletter. Another important number is cost per conversion. It tells you how much you spend to get each new customer. For example, an online store ran a campaign to turn TikTok users into product buyers. They improved their ads by looking closely at conversion rate and cost per click. They tweaked their ad writing and targeted more specific groups of people. This helped them lower their cost per conversion. You can use A/B tests to make your conversion campaigns better. Try different ad headlines and designs to see what your audience responds to most.

Aligning KPIs with Campaign Objectives

Video view campaigns

Video campaigns mostly exist to get people to know your brand. Match the goals you track to that main purpose. Pay attention to stats like video views, audience reach, and engagement rate. For example, if your campaign is sharing news about a new product line, high views and engagement will help you succeed. We ran internal tests with all kinds of different client types. We found turning on view and click attribution tools makes campaigns finish 113% faster. It also leads to 79% higher conversion rates, or how often people take your desired action. These numbers show matching your goals to these stats helps you improve your video campaigns. Let’s take a real example of a practical campaign. A clothing company ran a video campaign for their summer clothing line. They wanted to get as many views and interactions as possible. They tracked how many people watched, shared, and liked their videos. When they analyzed their data, they made a clear discovery. Studio-shot videos got more engagement and views than videos featuring models. Make sure your video campaign content is easy for people to share. You can make videos shareable by adding things like humor, trends, and challenges.

Conversion campaigns

Conversion campaigns are made to get audiences to take specific actions. Track key stats for these campaigns first. These stats include conversion rate, new user cost, and ROI, or profit return. If your campaign is meant to gather new leads, track two things. Count how many leads you get, and how much each one costs. You can calculate your campaign’s ROI with a simple formula. The formula is (campaign revenue minus campaign cost) divided by campaign cost, times 100. Let’s use a quick example to show how this works. Suppose a company spent $5,000 on a conversion campaign. That same campaign brought in $15,000 in total revenue. Its ROI works out to 200%, which is really strong. Let’s look at another real-world campaign example. A subscription service wanted more people to sign up for its plans. It ran a conversion campaign to hit that goal. The team tracked its conversion rate and cost per customer purchase. They tweaked their landing page and targeted the right groups of people. Those changes helped them raise their conversion rate a lot. You should always adjust your landing page to get better conversion rates. Make sure your landing page loads fast for all visitors. It should work smoothly on phones, with no weird formatting. It also needs to clearly tell people what makes your offer worth their time.

Tools for KPI Tracking

You can use a few different tools to track KPIs well. TikTok Ads Manager gives you lots of info about your ad campaigns. It shows stats like views, clicks, and conversions. You can also set up conversion tracking on the tool. It lets you track how well different ad groups perform. Google Analytics is another really useful tool. Industry experts say you can combine TikTok data with other marketing analytics. You can use methods like Deloitte’s to put all this data together. This gives you a full clear picture of how your marketing is working. You can then look at all the data from these different sources. That will help you make much better decisions for your work. The Step-by-Step Guide:

1. You can use TikTok Ads Manager to link all your TikTok accounts.
2. If you run campaigns to get more people to your website, connect your site to Google Analytics.
3. Start tracking your key performance stats regularly. You set these stats based on your campaign’s goals. These are the most important takeaways to remember.

• TikTok uses different ways to check if its various campaigns are successful. Each type of campaign has its own special set of measuring rules. No two campaign types are judged using the exact same success standards.
• If you run a campaign, you have set goals you want to hit. You also have KPIs, the specific numbers you track to check progress. It’s important to make these two things line up perfectly. Matching them will help you make your campaign work as well as it can. Doing this will also help you get much better results in the end.
• Keep track of the main numbers that show how well your content performs. You can use handy tools to make this easy. Two popular picks are TikTok Ads Manager and Google Analytics.
• Use our TikTok performance calculator. It lets you quickly check how well your TikTok campaigns are working.

FAQ

What is the difference between video view campaigns and conversion campaigns on TikTok?

Some campaigns are made to get more people to watch your videos. These help more folks learn about your brand. They also reach a wider audience overall. A new brand can use these to launch new products. Other campaigns are called conversion campaigns. These are built to get people to take specific actions. That could be buying something or signing up for an account. They are different from video view campaigns. They focus on getting people to take action instead of just watching. Each campaign type has its own goals and ways to measure success. All of these details are laid out in the [Differences] Analysis.

How to choose the right funnel stage ad type for your TikTok campaign?

First, set a clear goal for your ad campaign. Follow the standard tips most ad professionals use. Top-of-funnel ads help more people learn about your brand. You can use these to test new ads or show them to more people. Middle-of-funnel retargeting ads target people who already looked at your stuff. They help get those people more interested in what you offer. Bottom-of-funnel ads are focused on getting people to make a purchase. You can find the full list of ad types for each stage in the [Funnel Stage Ad Types] section.

Steps for aligning KPIs with TikTok campaign objectives?

1. First, clearly figure out what you want your campaign to accomplish. One common goal is getting more people to know your brand. For that goal, you’d run a video views campaign. You can also choose a conversion campaign instead.
2. Pick the right numbers to measure how well your work performs. If you want more people to watch your videos, track two key things. First, count the total number of views your videos get. Second, track how people interact with those videos. If your goal is to get people to take a specific action, track a different number. That number is the share of people who follow through and complete that desired action.
3. Check your data regularly and make changes based on what you see. This helps you make your campaigns work their very best. This guidance comes from the KPI Alignment analysis.

Video view campaigns vs conversion campaigns: Which is more cost – effective on TikTok?

How cost-effective your ad plan is depends on your company’s goals. Cost-per-view, or CPV, is a type of video ad campaign. You bid for these ads based on how much each view costs. These campaigns help build your brand, and they’re pretty easy to run. Cost-per-action, or CPA, is a type of conversion campaign. These can be more complicated to set up, but they work better for driving sales. They target direct user actions, unlike video view campaigns. Testing different ad strategies is really important. You can find outlines for these strategies in [Costs and Bidding].