The first TikTok report for a new client usually goes the same way. The CPM looks brilliant next to Meta, the client is pleased, and then someone scrolls across to the CTR column. Half a percent. A Meta campaign for the same product is clicking at three to five times that rate.
Both numbers are normal. TikTok sells cheap attention, and attention on a full-screen video feed doesn't turn into clicks the way a feed ad with a link does. The benchmarks below are the 2026 figures worth planning from, with a clear note on where each comes from, because TikTok benchmark data is thinner than Google's or Meta's.
TikTok Ads benchmarks for 2026
Two sources carry most of the weight. Lebesgue publishes figures from its own ecommerce dataset, measured on conversion campaigns that optimise for completed payments. Digital Applied compiles TikTok for Business aggregates, Statista data and agency data into cross-industry averages.
| Metric | Lebesgue (ecommerce, Sep 2026) | Digital Applied (in-feed, Q1 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| CPM | $4.80 | $9.16 |
| CTR | 0.61% | 1.0% |
| CPC | – | $1.02 |
| Conversion rate | 1.92% | 1.8% |
| CPA | – | $56.67 |
The two land close on conversion rate and nearly double apart on price. Lebesgue covers ecommerce brands only. Digital Applied's average includes legal and other high-value verticals, where in-feed CPM reaches $14.10, and those pull it up.
Lebesgue doesn't publish a CPC, but you can work one out from the other two figures: a $4.80 CPM at a 0.61% CTR comes to about $0.79 a click.
CPC = CPM ÷ (1,000 × CTR)
Lebesgue ecommerce = $4.80 ÷ (1,000 × 0.0061) = $0.79
The spread by industry
Digital Applied's industry tables show how wide the range gets. These are compiled figures, not one advertiser panel, so read them as direction rather than precise prices.
| Industry | CPM (in-feed) | CPC (in-feed) | CTR (in-feed) | Conversion rate | CPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty & personal care | – | $0.74 | 1.32% | 2.62% | $28.21 |
| Retail & ecommerce | $5.40 | $0.79 | – | – | – |
| Legal services | $14.10 | $1.92 | 0.65% | 0.88% | $218.18 |
| Cross-industry average | $9.16 | $1.02 | 1.0% | 1.8% | $56.67 |
Legal pays more than two and a half times the retail CPM and gets half beauty's click-through rate, which is how a $1.92 click turns into a $218 lead. Beauty sits at the other end, with the highest CTR in the table and a $28 CPA. If a client is in a high-consideration category, TikTok is a reach channel first and a lead channel a distant second.
Spark Ads vs in-feed ads
Spark Ads run from an existing organic post, a creator's or the brand's own, rather than an ad built in Ads Manager. In Digital Applied's compilation they average a 2.4% CTR against 1.0% for in-feed, on an $11.85 CPM against $9.16.
The Spark figures don't add up. An $11.85 CPM at a 2.4% CTR works out to about $0.49 a click, yet the same source lists Spark CPC at $1.41. One of the three numbers is off. Use the CTR lift as the signal and test the cost on your own account.
The likely reason for the lift is that a creator post looks like the rest of the feed, so fewer people scroll straight past it. The trade-off is control: the creative lives on someone else's account, and you need their authorisation code before you can run it.
TikTok vs Meta: cheaper reach, fewer clicks
The cleanest comparison comes from one publisher measuring both platforms. Lebesgue's 2026 ecommerce data puts TikTok CPM at $4.80, while its Facebook CPMs run from $6.96 in hardware and automotive to $12.46 in beauty and health. On CTR the order flips: TikTok sits at 0.61%, and most ecommerce industries on Facebook land between 2% and 3%.
The gap has been closing for a while. EMARKETER figures reported by TrendTrack show the difference between Meta and TikTok average CPMs shrinking from $8.62 in early 2022 to $5.50 by the first quarter of 2025.
So a TikTok budget buys more impressions and fewer visits than the same money on Meta. That makes TikTok good at feeding the top of a funnel that Meta or Google then closes, and less convincing when it's judged on last-click CPA alone. For the Meta side in detail, see our Meta Ads CPM benchmarks.
What the numbers mean for a TikTok budget
TikTok sets hard minimums before benchmarks come into it. A daily budget must be more than $50 at campaign level and more than $20 at ad group level. A lifetime ad group budget has to cover $20 for every day it runs, so a 31-day ad group needs at least $620.
Run a client's monthly budget against those floors before the plan goes out. A $1,500 month over 30 days is $50 a day, exactly the campaign minimum. Split it across three ad groups and each gets under $17, below the $20 floor, so that plan can't run as written. At a $9.16 CPM, $50 a day buys about 5,500 impressions, enough to learn something about creative and not much about conversion rate.
On TikTok, tired creative usually shows up as a CTR that slides while CPM holds. Watch frequency and CTR by ad, not just by campaign.
For keeping spend on target once the campaign is live, including how TikTok's daily budget behaviour differs from Google's and Meta's, see the TikTok Ads budget pacing guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good CPM on TikTok in 2026?
Anything under about $9 is in line with published 2026 benchmarks. Lebesgue's ecommerce data puts conversion campaigns at a $4.80 CPM, and a cross-industry compilation puts in-feed ads at $9.16. Legal and other high-value verticals run higher, at around $14.
What is the average CTR for TikTok ads?
Between 0.61% and 1.0% for standard in-feed ads. Lebesgue reports 0.61% for ecommerce conversion campaigns, and a cross-industry compilation reports 1.0%. Spark Ads, which run from an organic creator or brand post, average 2.4% in the same compilation.
Is TikTok cheaper than Meta for ads?
Per impression, yes. Lebesgue's 2026 ecommerce data puts TikTok CPM at $4.80, against $6.96 to $12.46 across industries on Facebook. Per click the gap closes, because TikTok's 0.61% CTR is well under the 2% to 3% most ecommerce industries see on Facebook in the same dataset.
What is the minimum budget for TikTok ads?
A daily budget must be more than $50 at campaign level and more than $20 at ad group level. A lifetime ad group budget must be at least the number of days times $20, so a 31-day ad group needs at least $620.
Sources: Lebesgue, TikTok Ads benchmarks (updated September 2026); Lebesgue, Facebook Ads benchmarks by industry; Digital Applied, TikTok Ads benchmarks 2026 (April 2026); TrendTrack, TikTok vs Meta CPM (EMARKETER data); TikTok Ads Manager help: budgets.
Jordan Parrello
Founder of Pace. Ran an agency pacing sheet by hand for years before building the thing that checks it every 5 minutes. About Pace or LinkedIn
