Why your TikTok ad group won't spend
Published · Updated
Selections OR within a dimension and AND across them, which is the opposite of what Meta teaches. Plus a 1,000-user floor on custom audiences.
TikTok states that "selections within the same dimension operate on OR logic" and "selections across dimensions operate with AND logic".
So adding a second interest widens your audience, and adding a second dimension narrows it. People arriving from Meta usually assume the reverse, stack four dimensions to be precise, and build an ad group too thin to spend.
What is TikTok's minimum custom audience size?
TikTok requires 1,000 total matched users in a custom audience before it can be used in an ad group. A small business's customer list frequently won't qualify after matching, and TikTok notes the matched list is always smaller than what you uploaded.
Why is my TikTok custom audience smaller than my upload?
- Don't quote your upload count as your audience size. It isn't.
- If the list is small, use interest or behaviour targeting instead. TikTok's useful signal is behavioural, meaning what someone watched, liked and shared recently. There's no job title here.
See the TikTok ad specs, quoted with sources.