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TikTok Ad Library vs Top Ads vs the Commercial Content Library: How to Search Each

By Daniel, founder of Adlicio · Oct 26, 2026 · 10 min read

On this page

• The three names, sorted out
• How to search the TikTok Ad Library, step by step
• What each ad shows
• How to use Top Ads in TikTok Creative Center
• TikTok Ad Library vs Top Ads: which to use
• What TikTok's ad libraries do not show
• Export and API
• How to track a TikTok ad over time
• Tips for competitor research on TikTok
• Where Adlicio fits
• FAQ

Short answer: TikTok has two public places to look at ads. The TikTok Ad Library at library.tiktok.com/ads is the "Ad Library" tab of TikTok's Commercial Content Library. You can search any advertiser or keyword without an account and see each ad's first and last shown dates, reach and targeting, but it only covers ads shown in Europe: the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey. Top Ads in TikTok Creative Center covers the US and other regions and shows likes, a CTR rank and a budget level, but only for a selection of high-performing ads that advertisers authorized, and you have to log in to see all of them. To list everything a brand runs, use the Ad Library with a European country. For ideas in a US niche, use Top Ads.

How we checked: everything below was read on TikTok's own pages and the Commercial Content Library FAQ on October 26, 2026. The screenshots come from real searches for Zalando in Germany and from Top Ads in the United States, taken on October 26, 2026. Adlicio publishes this guide and has no TikTok ad search of its own.

The three names, sorted out

"Other commercial content" covers branded content, which TikTok defines as content "made by a creator who received money or other incentives to promote a brand partner's products or services", and branded organic posts made by the brand itself. The "All ads report" tab charts the share of ads by country and the number of ads published by day.

How to search the TikTok Ad Library, step by step

Zalando in the TikTok Ad Library, Germany, last month: about 2,100 ads with first shown, last shown and unique users seen. Screenshot: October 26, 2026.

1. ✓Open library.tiktok.com/ads. No sign-in is needed. TikTok's FAQ: "you don't need a TikTok account to access, search, or use the Commercial Content Library."
2. ✓Pick the ad target country. The list holds the EEA countries plus the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Turkey. You can pick several, or "All countries".
3. ✓Set the last shown date. It defaults to the last month. Widen it to see older ads, up to a year back.
4. ✓Type the advertiser name or a keyword. A dropdown offers "Search this exact phrase" and a list of matching advertiser names. For Zalando it listed Zalando SE, Zalando Lounge, Zalando Marketing Services GmbH and others. Pick the advertiser to keep results clean.
5. ✓Press Search. Zalando in Germany over the last month returned about 2,100 ads.
6. ✓Narrow with Filters. Ad type (video, image, text), ad status (active, inactive or all; it starts on active), age groups from 13-17 to 55+, gender, and unique reach (under 10K, 10K to 100K, over 100K).
7. ✓Open an ad for its full details.

Watch the fuzzy search. Without quotation marks, TikTok runs a fuzzy keyword search that returns up to 5,000 results and matches the ad title, advertiser name, "paid by" name and caption. Ads with your full phrase come first, then ads with some of the words. Words only match whole words. Our keyword search for Samsung in Germany returned 1,896 ads, and the first ones were from unrelated advertisers or had been removed for breaking TikTok's terms. Choosing the advertiser from the dropdown, or putting the name in quotes, avoids that.

What each ad shows

Each card shows the advertiser, the first shown date, the last shown date, a range of unique users who saw it, and a playable preview. Ads removed for breaking TikTok's rules stay listed with a notice in place of the video: TikTok says "you can't view disapproved ads due to regulatory requirements", but you can still read their summary and targeting.

The detail page has two parts:

A Zalando ad's summary: first shown, last shown, the advertising objective (Sales) and 1K to 10K unique users seen. Screenshot: October 26, 2026.

• ✓Ad summary: ad ID, first shown, last shown, the advertising objective (this one says Sales) and unique users seen.
• ✓Targeting summary: reach by location, age and gender (here 2K in Germany), then "Additional parameters": location, language, high spending power, audience, interest categories, creator interactions, video interactions, device and operating system. This ad targeted Germany and Android devices, and excluded an audience.
• ✓About the ad: advertiser, who paid, the advertiser's registered location, the caption, the call to action, the ad category, and the external website the ad links to, with its tracking parameters.

Targeting summary and advertiser details for the same ad, including the linked landing page. Screenshot: October 26, 2026.

How much you get depends on where the ad ran. Ads shown in the EEA come with "additional transparency specific to the EEA". Ads shown only in the UK, Turkey and Switzerland get the ad content and basic information, such as when it started and who runs it. TikTok added reach broken down by age and gender in June 2026, so older ads show reach by country only.

How to use Top Ads in TikTok Creative Center

Top Ads in TikTok Creative Center, United States, last 30 days, sorted by reach: likes, CTR rank and budget level per ad. Screenshot: October 26, 2026.

1. ✓Open Top Ads in Creative Center. You can browse without logging in.
2. ✓Search with the box labeled "Search by brand or product keywords".
3. ✓Filter by region, industry, objective, time period (last 7, 30 or 180 days), ad language, ad format and likes.
4. ✓Sort by For You, Reach or CTR, or pick another sort under "Others".
5. ✓Read the card: objective and industry, likes, a CTR rank such as "Top 30%", a budget level of Low, Medium or High, and a "See analytics" button.

Two limits are printed on the page. "Log in to access all Top Ads and more" means a logged-out visitor sees a shorter list. And the footnote says the ads shown "are limited to those that have been authorized by advertisers and may not reflect all top-performing auction ads."

TikTok Ad Library vs Top Ads: which to use

Use the Ad Library to study a known competitor that also advertises in Europe. Use Top Ads to see what kinds of ads do well in your category and region.

What TikTok's ad libraries do not show

• ✓Spend, conversions or return on ad spend. Neither tool shows them. Top Ads gives a budget level and a CTR rank, which are relative hints.
• ✓US-only campaigns in the Ad Library. It covers ads shown in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey.
• ✓A brand's full list in Top Ads. It only shows ads their advertisers authorized.
• ✓Political ads. TikTok does not allow them, so neither tool has any.
• ✓Removed ads' creative. Disapproved ads stay listed, with the video hidden.
• ✓Ads older than a year. Ads stay in the Commercial Content Library for one year after they were last shown.

Export and API

The Ad Library website has no download button that we found. TikTok's FAQ says it "built an API to access this data, including ads, ad and advertiser metadata, and targeting information", with access details linked from the FAQ page. For a handful of competitors, a spreadsheet works fine.

How to track a TikTok ad over time

1. ✓Log each ad by its ID. The detail page address ends in ?ad_id= and a number, and the ad summary shows the same ID.
2. ✓Compare first and last shown. The gap is the run time. Of the first 12 Zalando ads we looked at, 11 had the same first and last shown date: some were a day old, others had stopped after one day. The few with a longer gap are the ones to study.
3. ✓Recheck with the status filter on Active. An ad still active weeks after its first shown date is one the brand keeps paying for.
4. ✓Allow for delay. New ads appear within 24 hours of the campaign starting, changes show within about 24 hours, and all dates are in UTC.
5. ✓Save what matters. Each ad disappears a year after it was last shown.

Tips for competitor research on TikTok

Run time first. A long gap between first and last shown marks the ads a competitor kept funding. Study those hooks before the rest.

Filter by reach. Set unique reach to "Over 100K" to see the ads a competitor put the most delivery behind.

Read the landing page link. The "External website linked" field shows where the ad sends people and how they tag the campaign.

Check the targeting. Age, location, audience exclusions and device show who the competitor is after.

Use Top Ads for formats. Sort a category by CTR or reach and note the openings, the length and whether a creator speaks to camera.

Where Adlicio fits

Adlicio does not search TikTok's ad libraries. It reads what viewers say under TikTok videos: the free TikTok Comment Viewer shows the comments on a public video, and the TikTok transcript tool gives you the spoken script. On the Growth plan, Adlicio in Claude also finds the top TikTok and Instagram hooks in a niche.

For Facebook and Instagram, Adlicio's free Meta Ad Library Search lists a brand's active Meta ads sorted by how long each has run, and Growth and up can pull competitor Meta ads into Claude or ChatGPT through the Meta Ad Library connector. Every other platform is in how to see competitor ads.

FAQ

Is there a TikTok ad library for the US? Not a full one. The TikTok Ad Library covers ads shown in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Turkey. For the US, Top Ads in Creative Center shows a selection of authorized high-performing ads.

Do I need a TikTok account? Not for the Ad Library. Top Ads can be browsed without one, but TikTok asks you to log in to see all Top Ads.

How far back does the TikTok Ad Library go? Ads stay for one year after they were last shown to a user.

Can I see how much a brand spends on TikTok ads? No. The Ad Library shows reach ranges and Top Ads shows a budget level, but neither shows spend.

Why does my search show ads from other brands? Searches without quotes are fuzzy and match any of your words in titles, captions and names. Pick the advertiser from the dropdown or use quotes.

Is the TikTok Ads Library the same as Creative Center? No. The Ad Library is the transparency search at library.tiktok.com. Creative Center is TikTok's inspiration site, where Top Ads lives.

Can I download TikTok ads? The Ad Library website has no export. TikTok offers an API for the data, explained in its FAQ.