PPC Case Study: Spark Ads vs. Single Video Ads on TikTok

There are different ad formats in TikTok Ads, as in any other ad channel, for every business to find the best fit for their goals. 

Spark Ads and Single Videos are the most common formats, and they are available for any location, unlike other formats that are only available for specific locations.

What are Spark Ads and Single Video Ads?

Single Video Ad is a full-screen TikTok’s standard ad format that appears in-feed and allows you to embed a video ad that auto-plays within a user’s For You feed. 

Spark Ads require a TikTok account, as you’d use your organic videos from the TikTok account in ads. This format helps you leverage organic TikTok posts that ensure that all views, comments, shares, likes, and follows gained from boosting the video during the promotion are attributed to your organic posts. 

Below you can see both ad formats and the difference between their button actions.

Case study

scandiweb PPC team has been working on expanding our client’s Baker Creek Rare Seeds ad channels, and the experiments include TikTok Ads. We posted several videos in the client’s TikTok account and used them in ads. It helped us test different approaches and evaluate the results of Single Video Ads and Spark Ads.

Let’s review the results of fundamental metrics. All ads were used with the Conversion objective in TikTok Ads, and we reviewed basic metrics such as CPC, CTR, and CPM. 

Approach

Here are the four videos we used in the ads. We uploaded them to the TikTok account and TikTok Ads and launched both ad formats for each video.  

What is the difference between these two ad formats? When we evaluated the performance difference between Single Video Ads and Spark Ads, we noticed that the CPC of a Single Video Ad is lower in all cases by 125.8%. In half of the cases, there is a CTR increase, and the average increase is 8.17%. The average decrease in CPM of Single Video Ads is 59.43%.

Results

Each format has different pros and cons. 

Single Video Ads

✅ Easy creation—no need to create a TikTok account; you can upload the video straight to the ad account

✅ In our case, we have a lower CPC with this ad format

✅ The CPM is lower in most cases than the CPM of Spark Ads.

❌ All engagements can’t attribute to your account. It’s important in case you’d like to have some help in TikTok account growth. 

Spark Ads

✅ Using your own TikTok account posts

✅ Ensuring that all views, comments, shares, likes, and follows gained from boosting the video during the promotion are attributed to your organic posts.

❌ A TikTok account is needed.

Our A/B test showed that Single Video Ads have better results than Spark Ads, as CPM and CPC are lower, and CTR is higher. Spark Ads, however, is a good choice to grow your TikTok account and build awareness. 

Want to try TikTok as part of your marketing strategy? Need assistance with your PPC management? Drop us a line at [email protected], and we’ll get back to you in 24h!

Share on: