Introduction
TikTok has emerged as one of the most powerful platforms for advertising and brand building in 2026. It’s a channel that your digital marketing strategy cannot afford to skip. Therefore, it is essential to understand how to budget correctly and leverage the algorithms.
TikTok as an Ad Channel in 2026
2025 was a turbulent year for TikTok, with on and off bans creating uncertainty for advertisers. Since a resolution was reached in 2026 the platform has stabilised, but marketers are still cautious.
This doesn’t mean you should ignore TikTok completely. TikTok has over 1.5 billion active users, and more than half of them have made a purchase directly influenced by TikTok content. For brands looking to build awareness and increase conversions, TikTok is a powerful channel.
What TikTok Ads Actually Cost
Before building a campaign, it’s important to know the numbers you should work with:
- CPM: averages around €10
- CPC: averages around €1
- Minimum daily spend: roughly €20
- Minimum total campaign budget: roughly €500
These figures shift depending on your industry, the quality of your creative, competition, and seasonality.
TikTok recommends testing with €300–€500 to give its algorithm enough data to get through the learning phase. A meaningful test usually runs 2–4 weeks, which for most Shopify stores translates to an initial test budget of €1,000–€3,000 before you can draw reliable conclusions.
It’s also worth knowing TikTok’s enforced minimums: €50/day at campaign level and €20/day at ad group level. If you spend below these thresholds, your ads won’t generate enough impressions for the algorithm to optimise effectively.
How TikTok’s Algorithm Spends Your Money
During the learning phase, TikTok delays major changes for 3 days or until you hit 50 conversions. The algorithm is understanding how your audience responds to your creatives.
- During the learning phase, avoid increasing budgets by more than 40% per adjustment. Bigger increases can destabilise the algorithm and reset its progress.
- Once the learning phase is complete, you can scale more confidently. Keep each increase within 50% of the previous budget, and wait at least 2 days between adjustments.
How to Approach Bidding
- Automatic bidding: This is the recommended starting point. It lets the algorithm learn before you introduce any constraints.
- Cost Cap bidding: A goal-based strategy that targets a specific average cost per action. Use this once you need predictable and controlled returns.
- The transition point: once you’ve accumulated 50–100 conversions, review your actual CPA and introduce a cost cap that reflects that target.
Is Your Tracking Setup a Hidden Cost?
Many advertisers lose performance through inadequate tracking. TikTok Pixel has several limitations:
- Ad blockers prevent it from loading on an estimated 30–40% of sessions.
- iOS restrictions limit cross-app tracking.
- Cookie limitations fragment cross-session attribution.
To bypass these limitations, supplement client-side tracking with the TikTok Events API. This sends conversion data directly from the server to TikTok, bypassing any browser restrictions.
TikTok vs. Meta vs. Google: Where Should the Budget Go?
Each platform plays a different role in the funnel, and budgets perform best when allocated accordingly:
- TikTok: Top-of-funnel awareness and discovery.
- Meta: Retargeting and re-engagement.
- Google: Capturing existing intent.
Common Budget Mistakes to Avoid
- Adjusting budgets too frequently or too aggressively: Daily changes confuses TikTok’s algorithm and resets optimisation progress.
- Undersizing budgets relative to CPA targets: A €20 daily budget against a €15 CPA goal gives the algorithm almost nothing to work with.
- Ignoring the learning phase: Pausing campaigns, editing audiences, or swapping creative within the first 3 days resets learning, costing time and money.
- Repurposing non-native creative: Repurposed horizontal video from Meta or Google consistently underperforms on TikTok, where the algorithm rewards vertical, native-feeling content.
TikTok rewards advertisers that understand its system. If you get the fundamentals right, TikTok’s reach and purchase-driven audience make it one of the strongest growth channels available in 2026.