# How to use TikTok Creative Center

> TikTok Creative Center is a free tool for top ads, trending sounds, hashtags and creators. How to use each part, and what it means for brands in India.
- **Author**: Marxx
- **Published**: 2026-10-22
- **Category**: Competitor research
- **URL**: https://marxx.ai/library-guides/how-to-use-tiktok-creative-center

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TikTok Creative Center is TikTok's free site for ad and trend research. It shows top-performing ads, trending hashtags, songs and creators, by country and industry. You can browse most of it without an ad account.

## The parts that matter

| Section | What it shows | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Top Ads | High-performing ads, filterable by region, industry and objective | Study hooks and formats that work |
| Trends: hashtags | Rising hashtags by country | Spot topics early |
| Trends: songs | Rising sounds | Pick audio for ads and posts |
| Trends: creators | Popular creators by country | Find people to work with |
| Keyword insights | Phrases used in top ads | Write scripts in the platform's language |

## Steps to study top ads

1. Open TikTok Creative Center and go to **Top Ads**.
2. Pick a **region** and your **industry**.
3. Filter by campaign **objective**.
4. Sort by the metric you care about, such as reach, CTR or likes.
5. Open an ad to watch it and see its details.

## A worked example

Say a fitness app brand in the UAE filters Top Ads to the UAE, its own industry and the objective it plans to run. It watches the top 20. Fourteen open with a person speaking straight to camera in the first second. Six use on-screen text only. Its next test is two talking-head openings.

## For brands in India

TikTok has been blocked in India since June 2020, and India's IT ministry said in August 2025 that the ban had not been lifted (checked 2026-10-20). TikTok does not serve ads there, so Indian teams use Creative Center to study other markets. They turn to the Meta Ad Library for what runs on Instagram Reels at home.

## FAQ

### Is TikTok Creative Center free?

Yes. Logging in with a TikTok for Business account unlocks more features.

### Can I see a specific competitor's TikTok ads?

Top Ads shows high performers, not every ad a brand runs. For a brand's full ad list, use TikTok's own ad library where it is offered, or an ad intelligence tool.

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