Carousels

A carousel is a photo carousel post on TikTok — a set of images the viewer swipes through, usually over a sound, instead of a video. They're a fast-growing format, and they're shoppable just like videos, so they can drive real GMV for your shop.

Carousel, slideshow, shoppable photos, photo post, photo mode are all interchangeable synonyms for the same format. On Cruva we call them carousels everywhere, but you'll see the other names used on TikTok and elsewhere in the industry — they mean exactly the same thing.

See your brand's carousels

Go to Content → Carousels in the sidebar.

• The three cards at the top show Carousel Posts, Carousel GMV, and Carousel Views for the date range you pick.
• The table below lists every carousel tied to your shop, with the creator's handle, the products featured, post date, GMV, units sold, views, likes, comments, CTR, engagement, and ad metrics (ad spend, ROI, CPA).
• Use the date picker and the filters button to narrow the list, and Export to CSV to take the data with you.

Click any thumbnail to open the carousel viewer:

• Page through the frames with the arrows, or jump to one with the dots.
• The post's sound plays automatically — use the speaker button to mute it. (Some posts use licensed music that TikTok doesn't expose, so they'll have no sound.)
• The download button saves this image or all of the frames.
• On the right, the Performance, Analytics, and Product tabs show the same detail you get for a video.

Find creators making carousels in AI Search

In AI Search, open Settings (the slider icon next to the search bar) and set Content type:

• All — no preference (the default).
• Videos only — ignore carousels.
• Carousels only — only match creators on their carousel posts.

The setting narrows which posts a creator can be matched on, so Carousels only surfaces the creators actually making them. It applies to the result count, Save list, and Export CSV too, so what you save is what you saw.

Carousels are still a smaller slice of the indexed catalogue than videos, so expect fewer results on Carousels only — that's the format's share, not a filter problem.

Filter Social Intelligence for carousels

On Social Intelligence → Videos, open the Filters button (the slider icon above the grid) and set Format:

• All Videos, Carousels Only, or Videos Only.

Carousel results are marked with a photo icon on the thumbnail, and opening one gives you the same carousel viewer as your own posts. The CSV export includes an Is Slideshow column so you can slice the two formats after the fact.

Carousels also show up automatically in the video lists on brand, product, and creator pages — no filter needed there. Rows with the photo icon open the carousel viewer instead of the player.

Run carousel-focused community campaigns

Any campaign that counts posts can count carousels. In the campaign configurator, on the Campaign Details step, open the Content Type dropdown:

• Tick Carousel on its own for a carousel-only campaign.
• Or tick it alongside Video and LIVE — creators then qualify with any of the selected types.
• Press OK to apply. Reset puts it back to Video only.

This works on Retainer, Contest, Leaderboard, and Sweepstakes campaigns. A campaign has to count at least one content type, so the last remaining option can't be unticked.

Once the campaign is live, participants' carousels count toward their progress and payouts exactly like videos. Review what's been posted on the Carousels tab — on an individual campaign, or across all of them from the community content view, alongside Videos and LIVEs.

If carousels are new for your creators, say so in the creator brief — a carousel needs a different shot list than a video, and the brief is where to spell that out.