Reviewed by
Performance Marketing Director
- Updated November 4, 2026
Overview
- TikTok has published a 12-page playbook on TopView and the Pulse Suite, its premium placement options.
- TopView gives a brand the first video users see when they open the app. Pulse puts ads beside popular, timely content.
- TikTok’s own data links both TopView and Pulse ad formats to stronger brand recall and reach around major events.
- House of Marketers‘ Insights breaks down what this means for brands planning holiday promotions.
TikTok has released a new advertising playbook on its TopView and Pulse Suite placements, and it makes a clear pitch for using them during big cultural moments like the holidays and major sporting events. We think it’s worth a close look, both for what it offers and for where creators still have a role.
TopView and the Pulse Suite: what they are and what they promise
TopView is TikTok’s premium ad format. It puts a brand’s full-screen video in front of users the moment they open the app. The video plays with sound on, takes over for a few seconds, then hands users back to the normal feed with options to like, comment, share, or visit the brand’s account.
The Pulse Suite takes a different approach. Rather than a feed slot, it places ads beside popular, timely content. Pulse Premiere sits alongside premium content from top publishers, Pulse Core covers seasonal and custom options, and Pulse Mentions and Pulse Tastemakers offer similar placement controls.
TikTok’s case rests on its own numbers. According to its internal analysis, TopView drives three times the revenue per impression of Brand Auction, and Pulse drives four times. A 2025 TikTok study found high-impact formats earned 50% more attentive views than Brand Auction and standard In-Feed. A Magna and TikTok study from December 2024 linked TopView to a 30% lift in unaided recall. And across 519 US campaigns from July to October 2025, 56% of the users Pulse ads reached weren’t reached by any other TikTok ad in the same period.
TikTok Ad Campaigns Grew Reach During Big Events
Major moments like the FIFA World Cup pull large audiences onto TikTok. That’s because when the TV goes to an ad break, the phone comes out. TikTok’s data shows that this habit is strong enough to move its numbers.
During the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, usage ran above benchmark at key match moments, and commercial breaks consistently drove spikes in activity. During February’s Big Game, US activity climbed after halftime and spiked through TV ad breaks.
TikTok says brands that used TikTok ad campaigns grew total reach beyond what linear TV delivered alone. Its Nielsen-based analysis puts the incremental unique reach from pairing Pulse with TV at 40% above the combined TikTok and TV campaign, and TikTok says it adds double-digit exclusive reach among 18 to 44-year-olds on top of both linear and CTV.
TikTok frames this as complementary rather than a replacement. That’s worth keeping in mind when you read the rest of the playbook, because the premium formats are sold as a way to reach people TV alone misses, not as a cheaper substitute for it.
Influencers Turn a Premium Ad slot into a Campaign that Converts
Premium placement buys attention, but it doesn’t explain a product or give people a reason to stay. The playbook’s Target example shows the fuller picture. Target paired TopView with product highlights, in-feed ads, and creator-led content across two Circle Deal Days campaigns, generating over 700 million impressions and 11 million clicks. TikTok is upfront that the results reflect the broader product mix, so none of that can be credited to TopView alone.
That’s the part we’d focus on. One TopView slot can kick off a moment, and creator-led Spark Ads can carry the story through the days that follow. Pulse Tastemakers, which puts ads beside popular, timely content, is a sensible place to test that handover.
What is the Cost of TikTok’s TopView Ads?
TikTok’s playbook doesn’t publish rates. But TopView campaigns start at no less than $50,000 for a one-day promotion, with similar costs for Pulse Suite offerings. TopView is reserved through TikTok’s managed sales team rather than bought in the self-serve auction, so brands should confirm pricing directly before planning around it.
Need help with planning this? Contact us to try our TikTok Ads Service.
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House of Marketers Insight: What This Playbook Means For Marketers
TikTok’s playbook is a really helpful guide for marketers who are selling on TikTok. So use this guide to plan your upcoming holiday ad campaigns
As influencer marketers, timing is of the utmost importance right now. Because TopView is booked for specific dates, creator content has to be briefed and approved before the premium day arrives. Creator work commissioned the week before will miss the window.
Ask creator partners for audience overlap data and run a holdout test before you assume creators add reach. TikTok’s 56% exclusivity figure measures only the users Pulse reached who saw no other TikTok ad in the same period. It says nothing about the audiences creators reach, and those audiences may overlap with yours.
Avoid the common mistake of giving premium placement credit for conversions creators drove. Run a holdout for each layer, judge the premium slot on reach and recall, and judge the creator layer on conversion.
Brands below the premium threshold can run the same creator playbook around the same events without the slot, putting the budget they’d have spent on TopView into creators. The premium formats are aimed at higher-end ad buyers, so that is the realistic path for most brands.
Conclusion:
As a TikTok marketing agency, our background shapes how we read announcements like this one. If you are planning your holiday creator calendar, House of Marketers runs influencer campaigns for 100+ brands a year across the UK, US and Europe, backed by a network of 250,000+ creators. Get in touch to time your creator content to when your customers are actually ready to buy.