TikTok Ads Under New Ownership: What Stopped Working and How to Rebuild

In January 2026, TikTok closed the deal the industry had been waiting for: Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX took majority control of US operations, the algorithm was retrained on domestic data, and the advertising infrastructure underwent a full technical rebuild. Six months in, managing campaigns across multiple markets, we have clarity on what actually changed — and what's working now.

If you run TikTok Ads, you probably felt the turbulence. CPMs fluctuating without explanation. Saved audiences that stopped delivering. Creative that worked one week and tanked the next. It wasn't your setup. It was the platform recalibrating itself.

At Mintec, we manage TikTok Ads campaigns for clients across Latin America and the US. During the transition, we saw accounts where CPA doubled in two weeks — and others where it dropped 30% because competitors pulled out. This is what we learned in the process.

What Actually Changed (It's Not What You Think)

The most common mistake is assuming TikTok "changed" as a product. It didn't. The creative formats, the user experience, and the For You Page mechanics are essentially the same. What changed was the infrastructure layer — and that has concrete implications for anyone running ads.

1. The algorithm was retrained on US data. The technical separation from ByteDance meant the recommendation engine for US users was retrained exclusively on data hosted in Oracle's cloud infrastructure. The algorithm still optimizes for watch time, replays, comments, and shares — but the distribution weights shifted. Local content, educational material, and informative posts gained reach. Political and news-adjacent content became more volatile. For advertisers, this means engagement signals are more predictive than ever.

2. The advertising infrastructure was rebuilt from scratch. Interest-based and behavioral targeting segments were reconfigured or renamed. Saved audiences and lookalikes created before the transition need to be recreated against the current targeting taxonomy. The pixel and events API also went through a technical rebuild — there's a gap in historical conversion data during the transition period. Plan for a 30- to 60-day learning period when returning to or scaling TikTok campaigns.

3. Auction competition dropped. Many large advertisers — especially in retail and consumer goods — paused or reduced TikTok spend during the uncertainty. For brands that maintained presence, this meant temporarily lower CPMs and better auction dynamics. That window remains partially open in mid-2026. Analysts project a 22.3% increase in TikTok's US ad revenue this year, with global revenue estimated at $34.8 billion. Confidence is returning — and with it, competition.

What Stopped Working

After managing multiple accounts through the transition, these are the tactics that consistently stopped delivering:

Pre-transition saved audiences. If you have custom audiences or lookalikes created before January 2026, assume they don't work. The targeting taxonomy was rebuilt. Recreate your audiences from scratch against the current segments.

Historical attribution as a benchmark. Comparing your current campaign's CPA against 2025 data is misleading. The attribution gap during the pixel rebuild broke historical continuity. You need at least 30 days of new data before setting reliable benchmarks. Treat your 2026 TikTok campaigns like you're starting on a new platform — with the advantage that you already know which formats work.

Pre-transition creative without adaptation. The recalibrated algorithm shifted distribution weights across content categories. Creative that relied on generic viral trends lost reach. Content with authentic voice, local context, and informational value gained ground. If you've been recycling the same creative library from 2025, it's time to rebuild.

What's Working Now

Smart+ Auto Selection as the default setup. Smart+ — TikTok's AI-powered campaign automation — optimizes on engagement signals, not just conversion events. In a post-recalibration environment where purchase-intent signals are still stabilizing, the volume of engagement signals (watch time, shares, comments) gives the algorithm more data to work with. In our accounts, campaigns configured with Smart+ Auto Selection are consistently outperforming manual campaigns on CPA during the learning phase. The distinction from Meta Advantage+ is critical: Smart+ prioritizes engagement over conversion, making it more effective at the discovery stage. As we detailed in our cross-platform funnel strategy analysis, TikTok works best as a discovery channel (TOF) while Meta excels at conversion (BOF).

Creative diversity as a competitive edge. The transition period reduced auction competition, but it also reduced the algorithm's tolerance for generic creative. The brands winning right now are producing high volumes of creative variations — 15 to 25 pieces per campaign per month — with genuine diversity across hooks, angles, and formats. This principle extends beyond TikTok: as we covered in our analysis of the end of the single-ad approach, the era of one creative per campaign is over.

Consistency over disruption. The temptation during the transition was to pause everything and wait. Brands that did that lost learning data and competitive positioning. Those that maintained presence — even with reduced budgets — accumulated signals during the low-competition window and now have better benchmarks. Consistency pays, even at small budgets. If you're returning to TikTok after a pause, plan for a 30- to 60-day learning curve before expecting results comparable to your pre-transition performance.

The Three-Phase Adaptation Framework

Based on what we've implemented with clients through this transition, here's the process we recommend:

Phase 1 — Rebuild (weeks 1-2). Recreate all audiences from scratch using the current targeting taxonomy. Reinstall your pixel with the updated implementation requirements. Review your brand safety settings against the updated content labels. Don't assume what worked in 2025 is still configured the same way. Check your ad account's targeting options — you may find segments that were renamed or removed.

Phase 2 — Learn (weeks 3-6). Launch campaigns with Smart+ Auto Selection, controlled budgets, and at least 15 creative variations. Don't manually optimize during the first two weeks — let the algorithm accumulate signals. Monitor CPM, CTR, and CPA, but don't make decisions based on less than 14 days of data. The algorithm needs time to stabilize, especially for accounts returning after a pause.

Phase 3 — Scale (week 7 onward). Once you have 30+ days of consistent data, identify winning combinations (creative angle + audience + placement) and scale budget gradually — no more than 30% per week to avoid resetting the learning phase. Integrate TikTok Shop with GMV Max if your product qualifies for TikTok's closed-loop attribution. Complement with Meta Ads for retargeting and bottom-funnel conversion, as detailed in our Advantage+ conversion decision framework .

The TikTok Smart+ vs Meta Advantage+ split. Smart+ optimizes on engagement signals — it needs volume, works best for discovery, and doesn't require existing conversion data. Advantage+ optimizes on conversion signals — it needs at least 25 weekly conversions, works best for retargeting and predictable ROAS. The two aren't competitors; they're complementary stages of the same funnel.

The Window Won't Stay Open

The reduced competition on TikTok Ads is temporary. Advertiser confidence is returning — the projected 22.3% growth in ad revenue confirms it. Every month that passes, more brands return to the platform, CPMs rise, and the arbitrage window closes further.

If your brand abandoned TikTok during the regulatory uncertainty, coming back now — with a rebuilt strategy, not a recycled one — is the best risk-return decision in paid media for the second half of 2026.

At Mintec, we help brands across Latin America and the US navigate platform transitions like this one. If you want to evaluate whether TikTok Ads — under its new structure — makes sense for your business, let's talk .