How to Find Trending Ad Creatives on TikTok

Finding ad creatives that actually work on TikTok doesn't have to feel like a high-stakes guessing game. By tapping into research methods that successful creators and brands use every day, you can get a better sense of what makes users stop scrolling and take action. This article will show you exactly how to find trending and high-performing ads on TikTok, equipping you with a clear process for gathering inspiration and building more effective campaigns.

Why You Can't Afford to Ignore What's Already Working

Diving into ad creation without doing your homework is one of the fastest ways to burn through your budget. By systematically researching popular ad creatives, you’re doing much more than just "spying" on the competition. You're giving yourself a powerful advantage.

Taking the time to study other successful ads helps you:

• De-risk your ad spend. Let other brands spend their money testing different hooks, formats, and calls to action. By analyzing what’s already resonating with audiences, you can learn from their tests and launch campaigns based on proven concepts, not just guesswork.
• Speed up your creative process. Staring at a blank canvas is intimidating. A well-organized library of winning ads gives you a starting point, sparking ideas for hooks, editing styles, and storytelling angles so you never have to start from scratch.
• Understand platform-specific nuances. A great ad on Facebook often bombs on TikTok. Research helps you internalize what feels native and authentic to the platform. You’ll notice patterns in sounds, text overlays, and pacing that make ads blend in seamlessly with organic content.
• Spot trends before they’re saturated. The TikTok trend cycle moves incredibly fast. Being an active observer of top ads allows you to catch emerging visual styles, popular audio clips, and new content formats before your market is flooded with them.

Using TikTok’s Own Tools to Uncover Winning Ads

Before you even think about paid third-party tools, start with the powerful free resources TikTok provides directly. They offer a ton of insight and are more than enough to get you started on the right foot.

The TikTok Creative Center: Your First Stop

The TikTok Creative Center is an official goldmine of data and inspiration, and its "Top Ads" feature is your new best friend. It’s a searchable, filterable library of high-performing ads on the platform. Here’s how to use it effectively:

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Navigate to the Creative Center. Simply search for "TikTok Creative Center" or go directly to ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter.
2. Find the Ad Library. On the main page, find the "Inspiration" tab and click on "Top Ads Dashboard."
3. Start Filtering. This is where the real power lies. You can narrow down thousands of ads to see only what’s relevant to you. Pay close attention to these key filters:
   • Region: Select your target countries to see creatives successful in that specific market. What works in the US might not work in Germany.
   • Industry: Pick the option that best matches your business, whether it's Apparel & Accessories, Beauty & Personal Care, Finance, or anything in between.
   • Objective: This is a big one. Are you looking for ads that drive website conversions, app installs, or lead generation? Filtering by objective shows you what creatives are working for your specific business goal.
   • Source: You can choose between "TikTok Ads" (standard paid ads run through the ad manager) and "Spark Ads" (ads that use an organic post from a creator's profile). This helps you see both brand-produced and creator-led campaigns.
4. Sort by Performance. Once your filters are set, you can sort the results by "Reach," "6-Second View Rate," or "2-Second View Rate" to see what’s grabbing and holding attention the longest.

As you scroll through the results, don't just briefly look. Watch each ad multiple times and ask yourself: What was the opening hook? What was the call-to-action? How did they demonstrate the product? Take note of the patterns you see.

Active Scrolling on Your "For You" Page (FYP)

Your "For You" page is one of the most powerful research tools you have, but you need to train the algorithm to work for you. By curating your feed, you can turn your casual scrolling into purposeful industry research.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Train Your Algorithm. Start actively engaging with ads in your niche. When you see an ad for a competing or related product, don't scroll past it. Instead, watch the whole thing, like it, and even click through to the landing page. This sends strong signals to TikTok's algorithm that you are interested in this type of content, and it will start showing you more of it.
2. "Why You’re Seeing This Ad." For any given ad, you can tap the share button and select “Why you’re seeing this ad.” This provides clues about the targeting strategy, showing you interest groups and demographic details the advertiser is targeting. It's a quick look behind the curtain.
3. Build a "Swipe File" Collection. When you see an ad that really makes an impression on you, save it immediately. Tap the bookmark icon and "Add to Collections." Create a new collection named "Ad Inspiration" or something similar. In just a few weeks of active scrolling, you can build a massive, personalized library of ads right in your TikTok app.

Leveling Up with Third-Party Ad Spy Tools

Once you’ve maxed out the free methods, third-party "ad spy" tools can offer more advanced filtering, deeper competitor analytics, and broader data sets. They aren’t typically necessary when you're just starting, but they become very useful as you scale.

Here are a few popular options and what they’re known for:

• PiPiAds: A favorite in the e-commerce and dropshipping communities, PiPiAds offers incredibly detailed ad data. You can find product pages, ad run dates, performance metrics, and see exactly what creatives are working for specific products.
• BigSpy: This tool covers multiple social platforms (not just TikTok), making it useful for seeing a brand's holistic creative strategy. You can see if they are running the same or different ads across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
• Anstrex: Another multi-platform tool that’s strong on native advertising but has robust social advertising sections too. Its filtering and search capabilities are quite powerful for digging into specific niches.

For most people, TikTok’s Creative Center is more than enough. But if you're in a highly competitive industry or run an agency, these platforms can provide the extra edge you need to stay ahead.

Decoding a Winning Ad: What to Look For

Finding ads is only half the battle. To turn inspiration into action, you need to know what to look for. A high-performing TikTok ad isn't just one thing - it's a combination of several elements working together. Here's what to analyze.

The Hook (The First 3 Seconds)

A viewer's decision to keep watching is made in an instant. A strong hook is non-negotiable. Look for opening visuals or phrases that grab your attention straightaway. Common patterns include:

• Problem-focused opening: "You're still doing your eyeliner wrong."
• Surprising visual: An unexpected "before-and-after" shot.
• Relatable scenario: A classic "Point of View" (POV) video.
• Direct question: "Want to know the secret to a perfectly clean kitchen?"

The Story Arc (The Middle)

Once you're hooked, how does the ad keep you engaged? It either shows a problem-solution loop or demonstrates the product in a compelling way. Most successful TikTok ads feel more like a user review or an informative video than a sales pitch. Watch for ads that use a user-generated content (UGC) style - shot on a phone, with natural lighting, and featuring a real person talking directly to the camera.

The Call to Action (The End)

An ad is useless if nobody knows what to do next. The call-to-action (CTA) should be crystal clear. Is it a voiceover saying, “Check the link in our bio”? Is it a bold text overlay that says, "Shop Now for 50% Off"? A strong CTA is direct, simple, and often creates a sense of urgency.

Audio and Text Overlays

Many users watch TikTok with the sound off, so effective ads use text to tell the story. Notice how top ads use large, easy-to-read text overlays that pop up to highlight key benefits or narrate the action. When it comes to audio, are they using a trending song to get a boost from the algorithm, or are they using a simple, authentic voiceover to explain the product?

Organizing Your Inspiration: The 'Swipe File' Method

Now that you're finding all these amazing ads, you need a system to organize them. This is where a "swipe file" comes in. A swipe file is just a collection of great creative examples that you can reference anytime you need ideas.

We’ve already mentioned using TikTok’s built-in "Collections" feature, which is the easiest way to start. For a more detailed approach, a simple spreadsheet is incredibly effective. It allows you to add your own notes and identify patterns over time.

Here’s a basic template to get you started:


| Ad Link | Brand Name | Niche/Industry | The Hook (What it was) | Format (UGC, Demo, etc.) | Call to Action (CTA) | Notes/Why I Like It |
|---------|------------|----------------|------------------------|--------------------------|----------------------|-----------------------|
| [url] | Brand X | Home Goods | "This is the dumbest purchase I ever made... on day one" | UGC-style review | "Link in bio to get yours" | Great pacing, authentic voiceover, very clever "twist" hook. |


Final Thoughts

Finding winning TikTok ad creatives is a repeatable process, not a matter of luck. By consistently using TikTok's brilliant built-in resources like the Creative Center and actively curating your For You Page, you can build a massive library of inspiration that informs your entire creative strategy.

Once you’ve gathered all these great ideas, the next challenge is getting that content planned, scheduled, and published without losing momentum. That's exactly why we built Postbase. With our visual calendar, you can map out your entire video strategy, and because we specialize in short-form video, you can reliably schedule your content to TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts from one place, ensuring your campaigns go live exactly when they're supposed to.