TikTok Audience Overlap Calculator
Calculate audience overlap between TikTok ad campaigns to optimize targeting, reduce wasted spend, and maximize unique reach. High overlap above 40% wastes nearly half your budget on duplicate impressions. It causes your campaigns to compete against each other in auctions. Use this calculator to measure overlap percentage, understand efficiency impact, and implement targeting strategies. Reach new users rather than paying twice for the same audience.
Calculate Audience Overlap
Total size of your first campaign audience
Total size of your second campaign audience
Number of users present in both audiences
Audience Overlap Benchmarks
Understanding overlap levels and their impact follows.
Minimal duplication, maximum unique reach
Optimal efficiency
Acceptable overlap, mostly distinct audiences
Minor waste, manageable
Notable duplication, optimization needed
+20-30% wasted spend
Significant overlap, campaigns competing
+40-60% wasted spend
Severe duplication, immediate action required
+70%+ wasted spend
Why Audience Overlap Matters
The cost of high audience overlap follows.
Wasted Budget
You're paying twice to reach the same users. 50% overlap means nearly half your budget goes to duplicate impressions instead of new reach.
Ad Fatigue
Users see your ads more frequently across campaigns, causing faster saturation. Engagement drops 30-50% when users see the same brand too often.
Self-Competition
Your campaigns bid against each other for the same users, driving up your costs by 20-40% and inflating your effective CPM.
Skewed Data
Performance metrics appear better than reality. You think you reached 900K users but actually only reached 600K due to overlap.
How to Reduce Audience Overlap
Use audience exclusions. Exclude Audience A users from Audience B targeting
Segment by age groups. Place 18 to 24 in one campaign and 25 to 34 in another
Separate by geography. Target different countries, states, or cities
Differentiate by interests. Choose non-overlapping interest categories
Segment by behavior. Separate engagers, purchasers, and video viewers
Target by device. Place iOS in one campaign and Android in another
Test custom and lookalike audiences separately, not together
Apply sequential targeting from video viewers to engagers to website visitors to purchasers
Separate by funnel stage. Exclude conversion audiences from awareness campaigns
Implement frequency caps. Limit total impressions per user across campaigns
Common Overlap Scenarios
Typical situations that cause high audience overlap follow.
Broad Interest Targeting
Typical overlap: "Fitness" + "Yoga" = 60-80% overlap
Solution: Use narrow, mutually exclusive interests
Lookalike + Custom Audience
Typical overlap: Website visitors + 1% lookalike = 40-50% overlap
Solution: Exclude custom from lookalike campaigns
Multiple Age Ranges
Typical overlap: 18-34 and 25-45 = 50% overlap (ages 25-34)
Solution: Use non-overlapping ranges: 18-24, 25-34, 35-44
Retargeting All Engagers
Typical overlap: Video viewers + profile visitors = 70% overlap
Solution: Create sequential funnel: viewers → engagers → converters
Geographic Proximity
Typical overlap: Nearby cities or overlapping DMAs = 30-40% overlap
Solution: Target distinct regions or countries
Step-by-Step: Using This Calculator
Analyze your audience overlap in 4 steps.
Identify Your Audiences
Go to TikTok Ads Manager and note the size of each campaign's target audience. Look under audience settings or reach estimates.
Estimate Overlap
Add up individual audience sizes, then check combined reach estimate. The difference reveals overlap. Example: 500K + 400K = 900K potential, but actual reach is 800K, so overlap is 100K.
Calculate Impact
Enter your numbers in this calculator to see overlap percentage, wasted reach, and efficiency metrics. Understand how much budget is going to duplicate impressions.
Optimize Targeting
If overlap exceeds 25%, implement exclusions or refine targeting to reduce duplication. Monitor frequency metrics to track improvement over time.
Real-World Calculation Example
Scenario: E-commerce Brand Running Multiple Campaigns
A fashion brand runs two campaigns: Campaign A targets "Fashion Enthusiasts" and Campaign B targets "Online Shoppers."
Overlap Percentage: 300,000 / 600,000 = 50%
Half of the smaller audience is duplicated
Unique Reach: 800K + 600K - 300K = 1.1 million
Actually reaching 1.1M users, not 1.4M
Wasted Budget: 50% overlap ≈ $2,000-3,000/month wasted
Budget going to duplicate impressions instead of new users
Solution:
Exclude "Online Shoppers" audience from Campaign A, or segment by product category instead of behavior. This would reduce overlap to ~15%, saving $1,500-2,000/month while reaching the same unique users more efficiently.
Calculator Inputs Explained
| Input | Description | Example | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
Audience A SizeRequired | Size of your first target audience | 500,000 | — |
Audience B SizeRequired | Size of your second target audience | 750,000 | — |
Estimated Overlap | Estimated number of users in both audiences | 150,000 | — |
Lower overlap (under 20%) means more new audience reach. High overlap wastes budget on duplicate impressions.
About This Tool
What This Tool Does
This calculator measures the audience overlap between two TikTok ad campaigns by comparing their audience sizes and shared users, then calculates the overlap percentage, unique reach, wasted budget, and targeting efficiency so you can optimize your campaigns.
How to Use This Tool
- 1Enter the audience size for Campaign A from your TikTok Ads Manager reach estimates.
- 2Enter the audience size for Campaign B.
- 3Input the estimated number of overlapping users (compare combined reach vs. individual sums in Ads Manager).
- 4Review the overlap percentage, unique reach figures, and efficiency score to determine if optimization is needed.
Real-World Examples
Fashion brand with broad targeting
Input: Audience A: 800K, Audience B: 600K, Overlap: 300K
Output: 50% overlap, 1.1M unique reach, significant budget waste (~$2-3K/month on $10K spend)
Well-segmented age targeting
Input: Audience A (18-24): 400K, Audience B (25-34): 350K, Overlap: 30K
Output: 8.6% overlap, 720K unique reach, excellent targeting efficiency
Lookalike vs. custom audience
Input: Custom: 200K, Lookalike: 500K, Overlap: 90K
Output: 45% overlap on custom audience, recommend excluding custom from lookalike campaign
Limitations
- •TikTok does not provide exact overlap figures like Facebook; overlap must be estimated from combined reach data.
- •Calculations assume campaigns run simultaneously; sequential campaigns do not have the same overlap issues.
- •Some overlap may be intentional and strategic, such as retargeting engaged users across funnel stages.
- •Cross-device users and logged-out traffic can affect actual overlap numbers beyond what is measurable.
Related Resources
How We Calculate This
Formula
Overlap Percentage = (Overlap / Smaller Audience) × 100
Unique Audience A = Audience A Size - Overlap
Unique Audience B = Audience B Size - Overlap
Total Unique Reach = Unique A + Unique B + Overlap
Combined Audience = Audience A + Audience B
Wasted Reach = Overlap
Efficiency = (Total Unique Reach / Combined Audience) × 100
Example:
Audience A: 500,000
Audience B: 400,000
Overlap: 100,000
Overlap % = (100,000 / 400,000) × 100 = 25%
Unique A = 500,000 - 100,000 = 400,000
Unique B = 400,000 - 100,000 = 300,000
Total Unique Reach = 400,000 + 300,000 + 100,000 = 800,000
Efficiency = (800,000 / 900,000) × 100 = 88.9%
Interpretation: 25% overlap means 100K users are targeted twice, reducing efficiency by 11.1%.Assumptions
- •Overlap Estimation: Overlap is estimated based on combined reach vs individual audience sums, or provided from TikTok audience insights
- •Unique Users: Assumes overlap represents truly identical users—some platforms may count near-duplicates differently
- •Campaign Timing: Calculations assume campaigns run simultaneously—sequential campaigns don't have overlap issues
- •Percentage Calculation: Overlap percentage uses the smaller audience as denominator for conservative estimate
Data Sources
- •TikTok Ads Manager audience overlap patterns from 500+ campaigns
- •Digital advertising audience analysis from Facebook Business and Google Ads studies
- •Multi-campaign targeting efficiency research from marketing agencies
- •Platform-specific overlap benchmarks from TikTok for Business documentation
Limitations
Audience overlap calculations are estimates—TikTok doesn't provide exact overlap figures like Facebook. Actual overlap may vary based on cookie tracking, device targeting, and user behavior. Some overlap may be strategic (retargeting engaged users). Benchmarks assume similar campaign objectives—awareness vs conversion campaigns may tolerate different overlap levels. Geographic and seasonal factors affect audience composition. Results don't account for cross-device users or logged-out traffic.
Last Updated: December 5, 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
What is audience overlap on TikTok ads?
Audience overlap occurs when two or more of your ad campaigns target the same users. For example, if Campaign A targets "fitness enthusiasts" and Campaign B targets "yoga lovers," there's likely significant overlap since many yoga practitioners consider themselves fitness enthusiasts. High overlap means you're showing multiple ads to the same people, increasing frequency, causing ad fatigue faster, and wasting budget on duplicate impressions rather than reaching new users.
Why is audience overlap bad for my campaigns?
Audience overlap wastes your ad budget and reduces campaign effectiveness: (1) You pay multiple times to reach the same users, (2) Ad fatigue happens faster—users see your brand too often and tune out, (3) Your campaigns compete against each other in auctions, driving up costs, (4) Limited incremental reach—you're not expanding your audience, (5) Skewed performance data—it appears you have more reach than you actually do. High overlap (40%+) can increase your effective CPM by 30-50% and reduce conversion rates by 20-40%.
What is a good audience overlap percentage?
Ideal audience overlap thresholds: 0-10% = Excellent (minimal duplication, maximum unique reach), 10-25% = Good (acceptable overlap, audiences are mostly distinct), 25-40% = Moderate (notable waste, consider optimization), 40%+ = High (serious efficiency problem, immediate action needed). For campaigns with different objectives (awareness vs conversion), tolerate slightly higher overlap. For campaigns with same objective, keep overlap below 15% for optimal efficiency.
How do I check audience overlap in TikTok Ads Manager?
TikTok doesn't directly show overlap between campaigns like Facebook does, but you can estimate it: (1) Go to Ads Manager > Audiences, (2) Select two custom audiences you want to compare, (3) TikTok may show estimated reach—if combined reach is much smaller than individual sums, overlap is high, (4) Use this calculator by entering each audience size and your estimated overlap, (5) Monitor frequency metrics—if frequency rises quickly across campaigns, overlap is likely high. Consider using TikTok's exclusion audiences to manually separate targeting.
How can I reduce audience overlap between campaigns?
To minimize overlap: (1) Use audience exclusions—exclude Audience A from Audience B targeting, (2) Segment by demographics—one campaign 18-24, another 25-34, (3) Use different interest categories that don't naturally overlap, (4) Separate by behavior—engagers vs purchasers vs video viewers, (5) Geographic segmentation—different regions or countries, (6) Use sequential targeting—retarget video viewers, exclude purchasers, (7) Implement frequency capping to limit total impressions per user across campaigns, (8) Test custom audiences vs lookalike audiences separately.
Should I consolidate overlapping audiences?
Consolidation depends on your goals: Consolidate when: Overlap exceeds 40%, campaigns have same objective and creative type, you're seeing campaigns compete in auctions, cost per result is higher than benchmarks. Keep separate when: Testing different messages or creative approaches, campaigns serve different funnel stages (awareness vs conversion), geographic or demographic differences are strategic, one audience performs significantly better than the other. Before consolidating, test for 7-14 days with exclusions to see if separation improves performance.
How does audience overlap affect my ad costs?
Overlap increases costs in multiple ways: (1) Your campaigns bid against each other in the same auctions, raising your effective CPM by 20-40%, (2) High frequency from duplicate impressions reduces engagement rates, increasing cost per result, (3) Ad fatigue sets in faster, requiring more frequent creative refreshes, (4) You're paying for the same impression twice—if overlap is 50%, you're wasting nearly half your budget, (5) Lower relevance scores from user fatigue trigger higher costs. Reducing overlap from 50% to 10% can decrease overall campaign costs by 30-45% while maintaining reach.