Meta and TikTok AI ad tools from Advertising Week, a UK guide

Meta and TikTok announced AI tools at Advertising Week New York on 5 and 6 October 2026 for checkout inside chats and feeds, video ads from still images and campaigns managed by outside AI agents. The checkout features are tests or limited to North American shoppers, so UK paid social teams should start with creative, search and agent tools.

Key takeaways

• Meta said on 6 October 2026 that video generation from still images in Advantage+ creative is generally available, without naming markets.
• Meta is testing checkout with Shopify in Meta Business Agent on Messenger, and Shopify says the checkout it powers on Meta surfaces is shown only to shoppers in the US, Canada and Mexico.
• TikTok’s Buy Direct checkout and Shopping Assistant, announced on 5 October 2026, are in eligibility-based tests, and Buy Direct needs a Universal Commerce Protocol integration.
• TikTok lists the UK as live for Search Ads Campaigns but not as a delivery location for TikTok Ad Network, which opened to US advertisers on 5 October 2026.
• TikTok’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) server gives AI tools such as Perplexity about 400 ad functions, while Meta’s, in open beta since 29 April 2026, needs explicit approval before an agent’s work goes live.

What did Meta announce?

In its Advertising Week post on 6 October, Meta said it is testing direct checkout with Shopify in Meta Business Agent on Messenger, so a shopper can buy right after a brand’s agent answers their questions. Checkout tests in Meta AI start this autumn with Adyen, PayPal, Shopify and Stripe.

Video generation from existing static assets in Advantage+ creative is now generally available, Ads Creative Studio is reaching more advertisers, and catalogue advertisers in a beta can turn product images into video.

The Meta AI business assistant in Ads Manager now remembers more about each business, and Meta is testing agentic actions such as building a campaign or changing a budget by conversation. Meta says advertisers who adopt the assistant’s recommendations typically see 5% more conversions at the same cost per conversion. Meta’s ads MCP server, in open beta since 29 April, now lets outside AI tools upload creative and stage campaigns as drafts in Ads Manager, with every action gated by advertiser-set permissions and explicit approval. Perplexity, Snowflake and Triple Whale are among the partners using it.

Plain-language audience discovery reaches Detailed Targeting by the end of the year, and Customer Lifecycle Strategy, which helps acquisition campaigns leave out existing customers, is open to all advertisers.

What did TikTok announce?

TikTok’s newsroom post on 5 October led with agentic commerce. Buy Direct is a native checkout with one-click purchase from stored payment methods and saved addresses, and the brand stays merchant of record. Shopping Assistant answers product questions inside TikTok’s in-app browser from information the merchant provides, and Lead Agent qualifies prospects in direct messages or on an advertiser’s site. TikTok’s product blog says all three are open through eligibility-based tests, and Buy Direct needs a Universal Commerce Protocol integration. UCP’s site lists Google, Shopify, Meta and Microsoft among its co-developers, so that work may serve other platforms too.

Search Ads Campaigns now run on Smart+, which automates keywords and creative, and Smart+ Creative Selection puts brand assets, Symphony AI creative and creator content into one approval workflow. TikTok Ad Network, formerly Pangle, opened to US advertisers and spans nearly 400,000 apps worldwide. The TikTok for Business MCP server, which packages about 400 API functions as tools, is now a connector in Claude, Perplexity and other AI platforms, and TikTok says advertisers using it have grown by more than 200% since launch.

How do Meta and TikTok compare?

Which parts can UK teams use now?

Neither company mentions the UK in its announcement, so the answers come from help pages. TikTok’s help centre lists the UK as live for Search Ads Campaigns with Traffic and Web Conversion objectives, with lead generation US only, and TikTok says on its UK blog that the campaign type is available in the US and UK. The UK is missing from TikTok’s Ad Network delivery list, last updated in September. Shopify says on its help page for selling through Meta that Meta’s direct checkout shows only to customers in the US, Canada or Mexico. Meta names no countries for video generation, Customer Lifecycle Strategy or its MCP server, so check Ads Manager first.

What it means for paid social teams

Through either MCP server, an AI tool such as Perplexity can read results and prepare or make campaign changes, budgets included. Meta stages that work as drafts for a person to approve, and since 16 July a business portfolio admin can set rules on what agents may change. In its developer documentation, TikTok describes agents that shift budget towards the best return without a person stepping in at each stage. Paid teams already cede bidding to platform systems, as Paid channels in the AI era sets out, and through MCP you can add your own agent to the same account. Our view at Manual Focus is that UK teams should connect agents for reporting now and allow budget or targeting changes only once a named person has written down what an agent may change and who approves it.

With Meta’s video generation and TikTok’s Creative Selection, whoever approves ads will see more AI-made variants, so creative teams will spend more of their time judging which ones meet the brand standard. Meta’s 5% and TikTok’s 20% come from the platforms’ own data with no published method, and TikTok’s figure dates from July 2024, so test both with a holdout on your own account, as we argued for ChatGPT’s ad measurement tools.

Preparing for checkout is mostly data work, because Shopping Assistant answers from merchant information and Meta’s checkout pulls products from Shopify Catalog. Brands with complete titles, sizing, returns terms and stock data give an assistant better material, as with ChatGPT Ads on Shopify. Shopify also says Google Analytics and custom pixels won’t fire in Meta’s direct checkout, only server-to-server events, so a team reporting from Google Analytics would not see those sales.

What UK teams should do now

1. Check what each account shows. Look for video generation and Customer Lifecycle Strategy in Meta Ads Manager and the Search campaign option in TikTok Ads Manager.
2. Write agent rules before connecting anything. Name who may authorise an MCP connection, start with reporting only and set Meta’s ads MCP server rules before any agent can change a budget. TikTok’s authorisation lapses after 30 days, a natural monthly review, and our paid-search bidding agent playbook holds its agent to daily changes of 15% or less.
3. Test video from stills against produced video. Run Meta’s video generation on your best static ads and compare cost per result with edited video at the same budget, after checking each variant against brand rules.
4. Trial TikTok Search on proven terms. Start with terms that already convert in Google Ads, use TikTok’s suggested budget-to-bid ratio of 20 to 1 and measure lift with a holdout, as the attribution tear-down describes.
5. Ready your data for checkout. Put sizing, materials, returns terms and stock in plain text in your product feed, send purchases through server-side events and, on a custom commerce stack, ask what a UCP integration would take.

What is still unclear?

Neither company gave a UK date for in-app checkout, Shopping Assistant or the assistant’s agentic actions. TikTok gave no fees for Buy Direct, while Shopify says Meta’s direct checkout costs only standard payment processing fees. Meta hasn’t said how checkout sales will appear in Ads Manager or how Meta AI picks which products to surface, a gap smaller brands should watch after Lightspeed found AI assistants favouring big retailers. TikTok also warns that MCP tool availability may vary by region and account.

Further reading

• Paid channels in the AI era, on bidding agents facing each other
• ChatGPT Ads on Shopify for UK brands, an AI ad channel already open to UK merchants
• ChatGPT’s new ad measurement tools, on testing platform claims
• Paid-search bidding agent, a Lens playbook with bidding guardrails
• Lightspeed’s AI shopping study, on why assistants favour big retailers

If you want help setting rules for AI agents in your ad accounts, get in touch.

I run marketing for [brand], [one line on what you sell], selling mainly in
the UK.

Meta and TikTok are testing checkout inside their apps. TikTok's Shopping
Assistant answers product questions from information the merchant provides,
and Meta's checkout pulls products from Shopify Catalog. I want our product
data ready, with sizing, materials, returns terms and stock in plain text.

Attached is our product feed export: [file name, e.g. Shopify or Merchant
Center feed].

Go through it product by product and check each of these fields: title,
description, sizing, materials, returns terms, stock status.

Give me a table with the columns: Product ID | Product title | Missing or
unclear fields | What's wrong | Suggested fix.

Then, for the [number] products with the most gaps, draft the missing text in
plain language for our team to check. Don't invent sizes, materials or
returns terms: where the feed doesn't contain the fact, write "needs input
from [team]" instead. List any columns you couldn't read or any products you
skipped.

We're planning a first TikTok Search Ads Campaign for [brand] in the UK. Our
rule is to start with search terms that already convert in Google Ads, follow
TikTok's suggested budget-to-bid ratio of 20 to 1, and measure lift with a
holdout.

Attached is our Google Ads search terms report for [date range], with
conversions and cost per conversion.

1. Pick the terms with the strongest conversion record. Leave out brand terms
   unless I say otherwise: [include / exclude brand terms].
2. Group them into [3 to 5] themes for ad groups.
3. For a total test budget of [£ amount per day], set a bid per ad group at a
   budget-to-bid ratio of 20 to 1, and show the working.
4. Suggest how to hold out a control so we can measure the lift TikTok Search
   adds.

Give me a table with the columns: Ad group theme | Search terms | Google Ads
conversions | Google Ads cost per conversion | Suggested daily budget |
Suggested bid. Follow it with the holdout plan in under 150 words.

Say if the report is too small to pick terms with confidence, and flag any
column you couldn't find rather than estimating it.

I lead paid social at [brand]. We're considering connecting AI tools to our
Meta and TikTok ad accounts through their MCP servers (Model Context
Protocol, the standard that lets an outside AI tool read and act on an ad
account).

What I know: Meta's ads MCP server stages work as drafts and every action
needs explicit approval, and a business portfolio admin can set rules on what
agents may change. TikTok's MCP server authorisation lapses after 30 days.

Our team: [names and roles of who runs paid social, who signs off budgets,
who owns brand].
Accounts we'd connect: [list of Meta and TikTok ad accounts].
AI tools we're considering: [list].

Draft a one-page agent policy with these headings:
1. Who may authorise an MCP connection
2. What agents may do at first (reporting only)
3. What agents may change later, with limits on budget and targeting changes
4. Who approves each type of change
5. Monthly review, timed to TikTok's 30-day authorisation

Write it as plain rules a new team member could follow. Mark every limit or
name you've had to assume as [to confirm]. Don't describe settings in Meta or
TikTok that I haven't told you about; list what I'd need to check in each
platform instead.