Set up TikTok Growth Max for Mini Games in this order: register and link the Mini asset, choose TikTok Native Promotion, select TikTok Mini Game as the optimization location, configure IAA Day 0 VBO, add at least 10 video creatives, and verify the destination URL. Do not begin with bidding if asset ownership and ad-revenue events are unresolved.
What must be ready before opening Ads Manager?
The Mini asset must be registered in TikTok Business Center. The Minis workflow allows a business to manage an owned asset or request access to an asset owned by another Business Center. The client key comes from TikTok for Developers. After email verification, the Mini status should be Approved and the correct ad account should be linked.
Create a launch sheet before campaign setup. Record the owner, client-key administrator, linked ad account, data center, target market, game URL, and event owner. This catches common handoff problems while they are still permissions problems instead of delivery problems. TikTok also notes that targeting is supported only where the client's TikTok Mini Game has been registered.
How should the campaign be created step by step?
In TikTok Ads Manager, select Create ad and choose the TikTok Native Promotion objective. Set TikTok Mini Game as the optimization location. In the optimization and bidding section, select the Mini Game or create a new one, keep Value as the optimization goal, and enter the advertising-revenue value.
If no Target ROAS value is entered, Highest Value is the default bidding strategy. A team that uses Target ROAS enters a Target Day 0 ROAS bid. Then configure budget, schedule, audience, and registered location. TikTok is the only supported placement. At ad level, upload video assets, add the Mini Game URL, test that it opens correctly, and submit.
TikTok's June 2026 setup page recommends at least 10 creatives per campaign and currently supports video format only. Treat 10 as the platform's minimum recommendation for this workflow, not as proof that any particular creative count will produce a target result.
How should Highest Value and Target ROAS be sequenced?
TikTok's current best-practice page recommends a two-phase approach. Phase one uses a D0 ad-revenue VBO campaign with Highest Value for the first three to five days to establish a D0 ROAS reference. Phase two combines Highest Value and Target ROAS, using the first phase to inform budget and bid decisions.
The same page recommends a one-campaign, one-ad-group, multiple-asset structure. Campaigns should be separated by target market and data center. If Japan and the United States are both in scope, TikTok recommends one country per Smart+ campaign rather than mixing them into one structure.
TikTok also publishes an initial daily-budget reference of 300 times Active CPA per ad group, with a minimum of USD 100 per ad group. It recommends a 20 percent budget increase only when the daily performance target is met and more than 70 percent of the daily budget has been spent. These are platform operating recommendations, not guaranteed outcomes.
What should launch QA block before submission?
Use a blocking checklist. Confirm Approved asset status, the linked ad account, the selected game, the advertising-revenue value, the registered target location, the bidding mode, the campaign budget, at least 10 unique videos, the TikTok-only placement, and a working Mini Game URL. Then add the reporting columns that will be used after launch.
If any owner cannot explain the value event or destination, stop the submission. A technically valid campaign can still be analytically unusable if the event map is unclear. Duplicate creative across too many campaigns can also weaken the review process, which is why TikTok advises against excessive campaign creation with repeated assets.
Finish a creative inventory before launch as well. Give every video an asset ID and record its gameplay promise, first-three-second action, caption, call to action, language, and destination URL. Group obvious reskins into one family. This helps the team meet the unique-creative recommendation without mistaking color or copy changes for genuinely different learning signals. It also makes the first post-launch review faster because creative, UA, and analytics owners can discuss the same asset instead of relying on filenames or screenshots.
Not sure whether your TikTok Mini Games campaign is ready for IAA Day 0 VBO?
Get a free benchmark check based on your specific app or game category.
The final output should be a signed launch sheet shared by asset operations, UA, creative, and analytics. That sheet makes the campaign auditable from registration through reporting and gives the team a stable basis for deciding whether to keep Highest Value, introduce Target ROAS, or revise the creative pool.
