About Custom Audiences

Last updated: July 2024

Custom Audiences are a tailored targeting feature that enables advertisers to create audiences of known or engaged users using a file upload, website or app activity, TikTok engagement, or an audience activation partner.


There is a requirement to have 1,000 total matched users in a Custom Audience to use it in an ad group.


Custom audiences can be used for:

  • Retargeting leads or past engagers, moving them towards conversion

  • Optimizing campaign spend by excluding recent customers

  • Creating lookalike audiences for prospecting


There are several ways to create a Custom Audience:



Starting April 2024, the audience manager page in TikTok Ads Manager will now display 'Total Matched Users'. This change will help advertisers get a better understanding of the presence of their audiences on TikTok. Only opted-in users can be reached with a TikTok campaign.


The 'Available Audience' size estimator on the campaign creation step will display a more realistic reach of the campaign using a custom audience. The 'Available Audience' is based on a number of factors including the user's opt-in status, age and location, among others. To read more, visit Audience Size Estimation Overview