About Category Exclusion

Last updated: October 2024

Category Exclusion is a brand suitability solution that enables you to block specific content categories from running adjacent to your ads and avoid associating your brand with this content. When layered on top of Inventory Filter, Category Exclusion provides you with even more control over your media spend.


Categories offered

You can select to block up to 4 available categories when setting up pre-campaign brand safety controls. We are pleased to offer Category Exclusion with the following categories:

  • Youth content is defined as content related to youth that encompasses content about subject matters, events, shows, or products that directly appeal to youth (including animated, fictional, or other entertainment content that appeals to youth) and content that primarily features young children or babies/toddlers.

  • Gambling and lotteries is defined as content that glamorizes or gratuitously depicts gambling, online gambling, or gambling-related behavior.

  • Violent video games is defined as content depicting video games where players violently kill or cause serious physical harm to other humans, anthropomorphic creatures, or animals through graphic imagery. This includes graphic depictions of death, dismemberment, amputation, decapitation, maiming, disfigurement, mutilation of body parts, or sexual assault.

  • Combat sports is defined as content depicting any sport for the purpose of an encounter or fight involving the head, foot, hand, or other parts of the body. This includes all types of severe martial arts, boxing, UFC, WWE, Karate, Kung Fu, etc.


Using Category Exclusions

  1. You can access Category Exclusions after selecting your Inventory Filter preference. Category Exclusions will only be available when selecting Standard and Limited for your Inventory tier.

  2. You can select all available categories or only the categories that fit your needs.

Category exclusions JPG

Availability

  • Regions: Most regions where TikTok Ads Manager is available. Note: If unavailable, the feature will not appear in TikTok Ads Manager.

  • Platform: TikTok Ads Manager

  • Buying Format: Brand Auction with reach, video view, or community interaction objectives (including Pulse Suite) and Performance Auction with traffic, app promotion, web conversion, or lead generation objectives (excluding product sales)

  • Placement Type: TikTok For You feed, Following feed, Profile feed, Search feed, and TikTok Lite

  • Ad Format: Both Spark ads and Non-Spark ads are supported


Third-party (3P) brand safety activation and reporting

We enable advertisers to work with trusted third-party measurement partners for independent assurance that the content next to their ads is brand safe and suitable. Our partners provide brand safety and suitability rates that align to the GARM Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework. Our partners Integral Ad Science, Zefr, and DoubleVerify are also available for post-campaign measurement of these new controls.