The TikTok app-install flight

Setup: a consumer app, $3,000 over ten days (comfortably above TikTok's published $50/day campaign minimum TikTok Ads Manager, Budget help article, 2026), Video Views plus spark ads, install tracking live.

The view math

1. Spend: $3,000. Reported: 1,500,000 six-second focused views TikTok Ads Manager, Video Views help, 2026. We use the 6s number; the 2s count is larger and flatters.
2. CPV = $3,000 / 1,500,000 = $0.002 per 6s view.
3. Band check: none exists. No sourced TikTok CPV band passes the ledger rule (why), so $0.002 is a fact about this flight, not a grade. The grade comes from the install column.

The install math (assumptions labeled)

1. Assumption, not a benchmark:0.5% of 6s viewers install. That is this account's historic rate; yours is in your MMP dashboard.
2. Installs = 1,500,000 x 0.005 = 7,500.
3. Effective CPI = $3,000 / 7,500 = $0.40.

The chain that matters in review: $0.002 per view is meaningless alone; $0.40 per install is the number the CFO can price against LTV. A flight at $0.003 per view and a 0.9% install rate beats this one at any CPV.

Health check for the CPV itself

Trend it flight over flight on the same 6s definition, and watch the 2s-to-6s ratio: a rising ratio means hooks are grabbing but not holding. Tools: the TikTok solver and view rate.

No invented CPI benchmark appears on this page; install economics are yours. View definitions: the table.