In mobile gaming, where millions of apps compete for attention, standing out from the crowd is essential to attract and retain users. Every marketer constantly searches for strategies to boost their ad performance and drive more installs. But how do you know what’s actually working for your competitors?
The answer lies in the TikTok Ad Library, a powerful tool for exploring and analyzing the ads of other mobile gaming brands and gaining valuable insights into their strategies. Whether you're promoting a new game or trying to increase engagement, the TikTok Ad Library gives you direct access to competitor campaigns' performance.
But keeping track of competitor ads can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling multiple campaigns. In this guide, we’ll show you how to effectively use the TikTok Ad Library to gain actionable insights, fine-tune your ad strategy, and, ultimately, outperform your competitors in the mobile gaming market.
What is the TikTok Ad Library?
The TikTok Ad Library is a free, public tool for viewing all active ads running on the platform. It offers a transparent look into the advertising strategies used by various brands, making it easier for you to analyze competitors’ campaigns. You can search by keywords, categories, or even specific brands to see what types of ads are being run, how they are structured, and which creative elements are being used.
The TikTok Ad Library is especially valuable for mobile game marketers. It lets you examine the ad strategies of other gaming companies to discover trends, learn what creatives are catching players' attention, and understand which messaging is driving installs and engagement. You can refine your search by region, ad type, or date range with detailed filters to find the most relevant and recent campaigns.
Understanding how to use the TikTok Ad Library is just the first step; now, let's explore why monitoring your competitors' ads is essential.
Why monitor competitor’s TikTok ads?
Monitoring your competitors' TikTok ads is a strategic approach that offers valuable insights into their marketing tactics, audience engagement, and overall performance, especially in the mobile gaming industry. Here's why it's essential:
Uncover Effective Strategies
Analyzing your competitors' TikTok ads can help you identify successful elements in their campaigns, such as ad formats, messaging tone, and creative approaches. This understanding will allow you to adopt and tailor these strategies to resonate with your target audience, enhancing user acquisition.
For instance, observing how competitors utilize TikTok's interactive ad tools, like Playable Ads, can inspire you to create engaging content that captures users' attention.
Stay Ahead of Market Trends
In TikTok, trends evolve rapidly. Monitoring competitor ads is essential to stay informed about emerging trends, popular challenges, and viral content. This awareness enables you to adapt your campaigns promptly, ensuring they remain relevant and engaging.
For example, noticing a surge in a particular gaming challenge can prompt you to create content that taps into that trend, attracting more players.
Also Read: Analyzing Trends in the Top 100 New Mobile Games in 2024
Identify Opportunities for Differentiation
Observing your competitors' ad strategies can reveal gaps or areas where they may be underperforming. Recognizing these opportunities to differentiate your gaming ad by addressing unmet needs, thereby attracting a broader audience. If competitors focus heavily on certain game features, you might highlight different aspects that set your game apart, appealing to more downloads to your game.
Optimize Advertising Spend
Analyzing successful competitor ads is essential to allocate your budget more effectively for user acquisition. Focus on high-performing gaming strategies and invest in proven ad formats that generate engagement and conversions. By identifying mobile game ads with high user engagement, you can shift your budget towards those formats to improve results. This approach ensures a higher return on investment (ROI) and boosts your user acquisition efforts.
Benchmark Your Performance
Review competitor ads regularly to set performance benchmarks for user acquisition. By comparing your campaigns with those of competitors, you can identify areas for improvement in attracting new players. Understanding industry standards is essential to set realistic goals for installs and engagement.
Tracking your progress against competitors’ campaigns ensures you are optimizing your strategy. This approach refines targeting and creatives, driving better user acquisition results in mobile gaming.
Now that you understand the importance of monitoring competitor ads, let’s explore how to use the TikTok Ad Library effectively.
Also Read: Unlocking the Full Potential of Mobile User Acquisition (UA) with AI
How To Use The TikTok Ad Library For Competitor Analysis
Leveraging the TikTok Ads Library is a strategic approach to enhancing your mobile gaming user acquisition efforts. Here's a step-by-step guide to utilizing the TikTok Ads Library:
Step 1: Access the TikTok Ads Library
Visit the official website, “TikTok Ad Library.” No TikTok account is required, and the library is publicly accessible.
Step 2: Set Up Search Filters
On the TikTok Ads Library, you have the option to refine your search using the following filters:
Ad Target Country: This filter lets you choose the country where the ads are being targeted. For example, if you're running mobile gaming ads in Austria and want to see competitors’ ads targeted at Austria users, you can select Austria here.
Ad Type: Here, you can select specific types of TikTok ads to focus on the ad formats that are most relevant to your mobile gaming campaigns.
Ad Published Date: This filter lets you define the time frame for the ads you want to explore. For example, you can select a range from October 2022 to March 2025 to view ads published within that time frame. This will ensure you stay up-to-date with current trends in mobile gaming ad campaigns.
These filters narrow down your results and find the ads that most closely match your specific interests, especially in mobile gaming and user acquisition.
Step 3: Search for Competitor
Now that you've set up your filters, it’s time to search for your competitor and analyze their ad strategies. Here’s how you can do it:
Search by Advertiser Name or Keyword: In the search bar, type the name of a mobile game publisher or a keyword related to the mobile gaming industry. For example, you can search for a well-known publisher like ABI Global Ltd to explore their ads.
Narrow Down the Results: After entering the publisher’s name, hit the search button.
You’ll see a list of ads specifically from the mobile game publisher you're interested in. The ads will focus on their ad strategy, content type, and engagement with their audience on TikTok.
Look for Trends: As you analyze these ads, pay attention to recurring themes in their ads—such as game features they highlight and visuals they use (like gameplay vs. animated characters). This gives you valuable insights into what strategies work in your niche.
You can sort your results using the drop-down menu on the right. This will quickly show you the most or least popular ads, as well as the newest and oldest.
Step 4: Analyze Competitor Ads
To learn more about a competitor's ad, click on the TikTok ad. This will redirect you to a separate detail page.
Once you click on the TikTok ad and are redirected to the detailed page, you will find various insights about the ad’s targeting and reach. Here’s a breakdown of the key information that you can analyze:
Watch the Ad Content:
A clickable preview lets you watch the ad. You can analyze the visuals, creative style, and call-to-action to evaluate the type of visuals used. Are they gameplay-focused, or do they feature animated characters?
Ad Summary:
Ad ID: Each ad has a unique identifier for easy reference.
First Shown Date: This indicates when the ad was first launched to understand how long the ad has been running.
Last Shown Date: This shows the last date the ad was shown, indicating whether it's still active or part of an ongoing campaign.
Unique Users Seen: This displays the number of unique viewers who have seen the ad, giving you an idea of how widely it is being shown. For example, it could be listed as "0-1K" unique users.
Targeting Summary:
Target Audience Size: This shows the approximate size of the audience the ad is reaching, helping to determine whether it is targeting a broad or niche market.
Gender Targeting: This reveals the gender distribution targeted by the ad. You’ll typically see checkmarks indicating whether the ad targets males and females or if it has an unspecified gender audience.
Countries Targeted: This section lists the countries where the ad is being shown. For example, the ad could target countries like Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Denmark.
Age Group Targeting:
Age Range Breakdown: The detailed page shows the ad's target age groups. To assess which demographic the game ad is reaching, it can include specific age ranges, such as 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, etc.
Additional Parameters:
Audience: This section indicates whether the ad targets a specific audience.
Interests: This section shows whether specific interests (e.g., mobile gaming, technology, etc.) were used to target users.
Video Interactions: This tells you whether the ad targets users based on their interactions with previous videos.
Creator Interactions: This shows whether influencer or creator-driven content was used for targeting.
Pro Tip: By analyzing these targeting details, you can determine the target audience the competitor is reaching and refine your targeting strategy accordingly. Understanding the gender, age group, and geographic breakdown to identify areas where your ads can potentially perform better or be optimized for similar or untapped audiences.
Step 7: Utilize the "All Ads Report”
The All Ads Report in the TikTok Ads Library provides a deeper understanding of an advertiser’s ad activity, distribution, and performance. Here’s how to effectively use the All Ads Report:
Access the All Ads Report:
Navigate to the All Ads Report section in the TikTok Ads Library.
You can search by Advertiser Name (e.g., ABI Global Ltd), Ad Target Country, and Ad Published Date. This lets you filter results based on your interests, such as seeing ads from a particular country or within a selected date range.
Ad Activity Overview:
The Ad Activity section shows the overall performance and status of ads. It’s important to note that changes made to ads or campaigns may take up to 48 hours to be reflected in the reports. This means that if you're tracking ad activity or performance, you may need time for updates to be shown in the system.
Ads Published by Country:
This section displays a chart that shows the percentage of ads published by ABI Global Ltd in various countries. The gaming ads are listed from the most targeted country to the least to understand which regions the advertiser focuses on.
If you’re analyzing a competitor, you can see where they heavily invest in their mobile game campaigns. If their focus is on countries like Germany, France, or Austria, this could guide you in adjusting your regional strategy to either target the same markets or find untapped regions.
The chart shows the number of unique ads that received at least one impression, plotted by publication date. It tracks the daily activity of ads over time. The spikes in the chart represent days when many ads were published, while the lower points show days with fewer ads. This visualizes how active the ad campaigns are on different days.
Pro Tip: Regularly check the All Ads Report to monitor competitor ad activities, identify changes in their approach, and adjust your campaigns accordingly. By understanding their regional focus and how frequently they update campaigns, you can stay competitive in your mobile gaming user acquisition efforts.
Now that you've learned how to use the TikTok Ad Library, let's explore tips for monitoring and analyzing your competitors' ads to stay ahead in the mobile gaming market.
Tips for Effective Competitor Ad Monitoring
Monitoring your competitors' TikTok ads is crucial for refining your mobile gaming user acquisition strategy. The TikTok Ad Library offers a transparent view of active ads, enabling you to gain valuable insights. Here are some expert tips to enhance your ad monitoring efforts:
Regularly Analyze Ad Creatives
Consistently review your competitor’s ad creatives to identify trends and successful strategies. Consider elements such as visuals, messaging, and calls to action. This analysis can inspire your campaigns, and you understand what resonates with your target audience.
Utilize Advanced Search Filters
Leverage the TikTok Ad Library's search filters to narrow down ads by criteria such as region, ad type, and date range. This focuses on ads relevant to your target markets and stay updated on recent trends in mobile gaming advertisements.
Stay Updated on Emerging Trends
Review the TikTok Ads Library regularly to stay informed about emerging trends in mobile gaming advertisements. Identifying new trends early to adapt and innovate your ad strategies proactively.
Implement A/B Testing Based on Insights
Use the insights gained from competitor ad analysis to shape your A/B testing strategies for mobile gaming. Experiment with various ad creatives, messaging, and formats to determine what resonates most with players, optimizing your user acquisition efforts.
Schedule Ads Strategically
Timing is vital to ad performance. Scheduling your ads to run during peak gaming hours or aligning with in-game events can maximize visibility and engagement. By studying competitors' ad schedules, you can identify optimal times to launch your campaigns, ensuring they reach the largest and most relevant audience.
Implementing these tips will allow you to effectively utilize the TikTok Ad Library to enhance your mobile gaming user acquisition campaigns and align them with industry trends.
Conclusion
Using the TikTok Ad Library gives you valuable insights into competitor ad strategies to refine your mobile gaming user acquisition efforts. You can identify trends, optimize your creatives, and improve targeting by monitoring competitor campaigns. With these insights, you can stay ahead of the competition and drive better results. Apply these strategies to fine-tune your campaigns and boost user engagement.
With TikTok Ad Manager, adding insights from AI-powered tools takes your analysis to the next level. To further enhance your ad strategy, you can integrate TikTok ads with Segwise, an AI-powered platform, to optimize creatives and monitor campaign performance. Using Segwise, you can seamlessly track and analyze your campaigns, identify top-performing creatives, and make data-driven decisions to improve your results.
To transfer your TikTok ad data to Segwise, simply click here and follow the easy steps to connect your TikTok account. This integration leverages Segwise’s advanced analytics to maximize your ad performance and user acquisition efforts.
So, Start today with a 14-day free trial and unlock the power of AI to supercharge your mobile gaming ad strategy!
