Should You Run Ads on Both Meta and TikTok? What 44,000 Advertisers Show About Adding a Second Platform

Adding a second ad platform can help you reach new people and find cheaper results, but it takes more money, more content, and more of your time. Running ads on both Meta and TikTok makes sense for some businesses and can wait for others, depending on the size of your business, your goals, and what you spend today. Metricool’s 2026 Social Ads Report analyzed nearly 630,000 campaigns from more than 44,000 advertisers. How those advertisers split their budgets between the two platforms shows when adding the second one makes more sense, and how to start if it does.

How Many Advertisers Run Ads on Both Meta and TikTok

Running both platforms is less common than you might expect. Nine in ten advertisers run social media ads on Meta alone, a small group uses only TikTok, and fewer than 4 in 100 advertise on both.

So if you only run Meta ads today, you’re in the majority. Adding TikTok puts you in a small group of advertisers that are testing a second platform.

A second platform takes more than ad money. You’ll need ads made for each platform, a way to see results from both in one place, and a few extra hours each week to check on them. If you handle your business, your posts, and your ads yourself, plan for that time before you add TikTok.

Which Advertisers Use a Multi-Platform Ad Strategy

The more an advertiser spends, the more likely it is to run ads on both platforms. Fewer than 1% of accounts spending under $100 a month use both, compared with about 1 in 5 accounts spending more than $10,000 a month.

Diversifying ad platforms is easier with a bigger budget, because you have room to try new things without pulling money from the ads that already bring you customers. Small businesses have their own reasons to try it, though, and the ones that run both are moving money toward TikTok faster than most.

How Advertisers Split Their Budget Between Meta and TikTok

Among advertisers that use both platforms, Meta still gets about three quarters of the combined budget. TikTok’s share grew a little this year, from 23.6% in 2025 to 25.7% in 2026.

That modest change shows how brands that run both treat each platform. Meta stays their main platform and TikTok gets a smaller, growing share, which is a sensible way to try a second platform without putting the ads that already work for you at risk.

TikTok budgets move around more than Meta budgets. More TikTok advertisers increased their spending this year than Meta advertisers did, and more of them cut it. That pattern fits a platform that many brands are still testing, so expect to adjust your TikTok budget more often in the first few months.

Why Tiny Businesses Are Moving Budget to TikTok Ads

The smallest advertisers are the most willing to move money between platforms. For accounts spending under $100 a month that run both, TikTok now gets 44% of the budget, closer to an even split than any other group. Mid-sized advertisers, spending between $500 and $2,000 a month, made a similar move this year, while the biggest advertisers stayed much closer to their existing split.

Small businesses on TikTok are more likely to grow their ad spending. Among the smallest advertisers on each platform, more than 4 in 10 moved into a higher spending group on TikTok this year, compared with just over a third on Meta.

For a tiny business, that makes TikTok ads a reasonable place to start small and spend more once the results are there.

Should You Advertise on Meta or TikTok First?

If you’re choosing one platform to start with, the better choice depends on what you want your campaign to do. Each platform costs less for different campaign goals, so start with the one that matches the goal you care about most this quarter.

TikTok is usually the better first platform if you want people to discover your brand, visit your website, or fill in a form. Meta is usually the better first platform if you want likes and comments on your posts or you want to sell products directly through your ads. Far more businesses run sales ads on Meta, so there’s more experience to learn from.

When Running Both Platforms Makes Sense

Adding a second platform tends to work best for advertisers who want:

• To Reach Different Audiences: Each platform has its own audience and its own style of content, so running both puts your brand in front of people that one platform alone might miss.
• To Find Out Which Platform Costs Less for You: Averages from other businesses give you a starting point, and running both shows what each platform costs for your own products and customers.
• To Help New Customers Find You: Advertisers put more of their TikTok budget toward getting discovered than they do on Meta. That makes TikTok a good way to reach people who are new to your business, while Meta keeps your followers engaged and buying.
• To Avoid Depending on One Platform: Meta’s ad prices rose noticeably this year while TikTok’s barely moved, and having a second platform gives you somewhere to move budget when costs change.

One platform is enough for now if:

• Your Budget Is Very Small: Splitting a small budget across two platforms leaves each one with less to work with, so most of the smallest advertisers stay on one.
• You Don’t Have Time to Make Content for Both Yet: TikTok and Meta audiences respond to different styles of content, and an ad made for one platform can feel out of place on the other.
• Your Current Platform Still Has Room to Grow: If your Meta results keep growing as you spend more, keep investing there before you add a second platform.

How to Start Running Ads on Both Platforms

1. Pick One Campaign Goal to Test: Choose a single goal, like website visits or sign-ups, so you can compare the two platforms on the same result.
2. Start With a Smaller Share on TikTok: Advertisers that run both put around a quarter of their budget into TikTok, which is a sensible amount for a first test.
3. Make an Ad for Each Platform: Plan a version of your ad for each platform rather than reusing the same file, so both versions look like they belong in the feed.
4. Compare Your Results After a Few Weeks: Look at what you paid for each sale, sign-up, or website visit on both platforms, then put more of your budget behind the cheaper one.

Manage Meta and TikTok Ads Together in Metricool

Managing ads on two platforms adds up quickly. Metricool keeps your ads, your posts, and your results in one place, so you can check on both platforms without logging in to each one.

Start Small by Promoting Posts That Already Work

If your budget is tight, promoting a post is an easy first step into ads. Metricool lets you promote single-image posts on Facebook and Instagram, as well as Instagram Reels, either after they’re published or while you schedule them. Meta chooses the audience for these promotions, so move to a full campaign when you want custom targeting.

Keep Both Ad Accounts in One Dashboard

Metricool’s Ads section brings your Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, and Google Ads campaigns into one dashboard, and you can create reports that show results from all your ad platforms together. From the same dashboard, you can create Meta Ads and Google Ads campaigns, change budgets, and pause or restart campaigns. TikTok campaigns are created in TikTok Ads Manager and then tracked in Metricool with the rest of your ads.

See How a Sale or Launch Performed on Both Platforms

When you promote something like a seasonal sale or a new product on Meta, TikTok, and your regular posts, Campaign Dashboards puts all of it in a single report. You choose which ads and posts belong to it, with suggestions from Metricool based on the name and description you give it. The dashboard shows your combined results, your best posts, and AI-generated insights that explain what worked. You can share the dashboard with your team or anyone else who needs it through a read-only link.

Get Reports in Plain Language With Metricool Studio

If metrics feel overwhelming, Metricool Studio can help. You describe what you want to know in your own words, like how this month compares with last month. Studio then builds a report with charts, tables, and written explanations, using the data that Metricool collects from your connected profiles. You can share it with a link or export it as a PDF. Campaign Dashboards and Metricool Studio are available on paid plans, and the Advanced Analytics Add-on gives you full access to both.

Ask Claude How Your Meta and TikTok Ads Are Doing

If you connect your ad accounts to Claude through Metricool, you can ask questions about your ads in a normal chat. The answers are based on your own data, so you can skip exporting it into a spreadsheet first.

For Meta Ads, you can ask Claude to rank your ads by what each result costs and find where budget went without bringing anything in. Claude can spot when an ad is wearing out because people have seen it too many times, so you catch it while it’s happening. It can look at your ad thumbnails and tell you what your best-performing ads have in common, or turn a month of numbers into a short summary you can send to your team.

The Claude connector covers Meta Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, and your social profiles in the same chat, and it works on every Metricool plan. Creating and editing campaigns still happens in Metricool’s Ads section, and if ChatGPT is the assistant you use, Metricool’s MCP connects to it in the same way.

So, Should You Run Ads on Both?

The answer depends on where your business is right now, and on how much time and budget you can give a second platform.

If your Meta campaigns already bring in steady results, adding TikTok is the most practical next step. You keep your main campaigns running, test TikTok with one goal, and find out if it brings in traffic or leads for less than you’re paying now. Either way, your next budget decision will be based on your own results instead of other businesses’ averages.

If you run a tiny business, a second platform is within reach sooner than you might think. Most small advertisers stay on one platform, but the ones that run both put a large share of their budget into TikTok, and many of them grow their spending from there. Start with the platform that fits your main goal, get one campaign working, and add the second once you can give it a fair test.

If your business is growing and your ad budget with it, you’re moving toward the group of advertisers most likely to run both. A second platform gives you somewhere to move money when prices change on the first. Once your budget has room for it, add a TikTok test to your plan for next quarter.