Introduction
With over 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok has evolved from a platform for viral dances into a powerful advertising channel for businesses of all sizes. As more companies allocate budget to TikTok ads, understanding what your competitors are doing on the platform becomes essential for staying relevant and competitive.
This guide will walk you through practical methods for tracking and analyzing competitor ads on TikTok, even though the platform doesn’t offer a native competitor search tool like Meta’s Ad Library.
Why You Should Track Competitor TikTok Ads
By analyzing their ads, you can:
Identify emerging trends in your competitors' creative styles, audio, and formats.
Understand their targeting strategy based on ad content and hashtags.
Discover gaps in their strategy that you can capitalize on.
Building a complete marketing stack on a budget?
While analyzing competitors on TikTok is crucial, having the right foundational tools is key for any startup. To streamline all your efforts, explore our curated list of 5 Essential Marketing Tools for Startups.
Step-by-Step Guide to Manually Tracking TikTok Ads
Unlike Facebook, which offers a transparent Ads Library (you can read our guide on tracking Facebook competitor ads here), TikTok does not currently provide a direct searchable database of all active ads by brand. However, you can still gather valuable intelligence with a proactive manual approach.
Step 1: Use In-App Search with Strategic Keywords
Go to TikTok and use the search bar. Type your competitor’s brand name followed by “#ad” or “#sponsored.” This filters for content that has been flagged as a paid partnership, which is how TikTok labels most native ads.
Step 2: Scroll through the results
Scroll through the video results from your search. Watch a few of them. You are looking for a clear label on the video or in its description that says "Paid partnership". If you see this label (as shown in the example above), you have successfully found a competitor's official paid advertisement.
Step 3: Let TikTok’s Algorithm Work for You
Engage with content related to your industry. Like, follow, and watch videos from similar brands or target audiences. The more you interact, the more TikTok’s “For You Page” (FYP) algorithm will serve you relevant content — including competitor ads.
Pro Tip: Complement your manual research with the TikTok Ads Transparency Center. While it doesn’t let you search by competitor name, it’s a global library where you can browse ads by region, industry, or date range. This is excellent for understanding broader advertising trends and creative approaches in your niche.
Turning Observations into Strategy
Collecting ads is only the first step. Create a simple spreadsheet to log:
Ad Creative: Video style, text overlay, hooks.
Call-to-Action: “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” “Download.”
Audience Engagement: Likes, comments, shares.
Look for patterns. Are they pushing a new product line? Using a specific influencer? Running a limited-time sale? This analysis will help you infer their campaign objectives and target audience.
Conclusion
While tracking TikTok ads requires more manual effort than on some other platforms, it is a highly valuable practice. By systematically searching for #ad content, engaging with your industry’s ecosystem, and using the TikTok Ads Transparency Center for thematic research, you can build a clear picture of your competitive landscape.
Ready to scale your intelligence beyond TikTok? To truly dominate in the coming years, you'll need a holistic view of the entire ad landscape. Don't miss our essential resource, Digital Advertising Intelligence in 2026: A Practical Guide, which details how to track and analyze ads across all major platforms effectively.
FAQ: How to Track Competitor Ads on TikTok
How to find competitor ads on TikTok?
The most effective free method is to use TikTok's search function. Go to the app, and in the search bar, type your competitor's brand name followed by #ad (e.g., Nike #ad). Scroll through the results; videos labeled "Paid partnership" in the description are their active advertisements.How to see examples of ads on TikTok?
Use the official TikTok Ads Transparency Center. It's a free, searchable global library where you can explore ads by industry, country, and date. While you can't search by a specific competitor's name, it's an excellent tool for researching trends, creative formats, and strategies in your niche.How to tell if a TikTok video is a paid ad?
Look for the mandatory disclosure label. TikTok requires paid promotions to be clearly tagged. You will see the text "Paid partnership" or the hashtags #ad / #sponsored directly on the video or in its description. This is your key identifier that the content is a sponsored ad, not organic.
