GMV Max & TikTok Ads

For brands and agencies running (or wanting to run) GMV Max campaigns on TikTok Shop.

What Cruva does with GMV Max

Cruva does not replace TikTok's GMV Max — it plugs into it. Two things happen:

1. Authorize creator videos as GMV Max creatives. From Spark Ads, you select top-performing creator videos and push them into GMV Max so TikTok can run paid promotion against them (the creator's handle stays on the post, and they keep commission on sales).

2. Read your GMV Max performance back inside Cruva. The GMV Max Analytics page pulls your campaigns from TikTok and shows spend, revenue, ROAS/ROI, orders, cost per order, and per-creative breakdowns — with charts, CSV export, and per-campaign creative drill-downs.

Budgets, ROAS targets, and the campaigns themselves are created and controlled in TikTok Ads Manager. Cruva displays those settings (budget, auto-budget flag, ROAS target, schedule) but doesn't set them for you.

Note: the GMV Max analytics pages are fully shipped. If you ever saw a "Coming Soon", 404, or draft state on this tab in the past, that was a bug and is fixed — the current pages are live.

Where it lives

• GMV Max Analytics: Dashboard → Ads → GMV Max (/dashboard/ads/gmv-max), and as a tab on the main dashboard.
• Push videos into GMV Max: Dashboard → Ads → Spark Ads (/dashboard/ads/spark).

Step 1 — Connect the correct TikTok Ads account

GMV Max data only appears once your TikTok Ads API is connected. If it isn't, Cruva shows a Connect TikTok Ads prompt.

1. Go to Dashboard → Ads (or the GMV Max tab). Click Open authorization page (or Copy auth link to send to whoever manages the ad account).

2. Complete authorization on TikTok, then come back and click Check connection.

Connecting the right account is the #1 cause of "active but no spend." GMV Max requires the ad account to sit in the Business Center that owns the TikTok Shop, with admin or operator access to that shop. Common pitfalls:

• Agency/partner Business Center token is view-only. If an agency authorizes from its own Business Center rather than the brand's, TikTok returns Shop must belong to a Business Center account and no campaigns are created. Fix: unlink, then send the brand the authorization link so they complete the install from the Business Center that owns the shop.
• Wrong ad account selected. If it links to the wrong account, unlink and reconnect using the authorization link, choosing the correct account.

Step 2 — Push creator videos into GMV Max

1. Collect Spark codes first (see the Spark Ads guide). Codes appear on the Spark page.

2. On Dashboard → Ads → Spark Ads, tick the videos you want to promote (already-authorized ones show a green check and can't be re-selected).

3. Click Authorize Videos, then Authorize in the dialog. Cruva pushes each selected video into GMV Max.

4. The result panel lists which succeeded and which failed (with the reason). Authorized videos flip to the "authorized" status.

Selecting videos requires the TikTok Ads API to be connected. Spark Ads / GMV Max authorization is a paid feature — on the free plan the table is blurred with sample data and prompts an upgrade.

Step 3 — Verify it's active

Open Ads → GMV Max. You should see:

• Summary cards — GMV Max Spend, GMV Max ROI, and GMV Max Revenue for the selected date range. (ROAS appears as the campaign-level "ROAS Target" column.)
• Campaign breakdown — each campaign with its status badge (Enabled/Disabled), budget, ROAS target, spend, revenue, ROI, orders. Expand a row to see each creative and its status (Delivering, Learning, etc.).

If a campaign shows active but no spend, it usually means the ad account connection isn't fully authorized against the shop's Business Center (see Step 1), not that GMV Max is broken.

Is it plan-gated?

• Connecting the TikTok Ads account and viewing GMV Max analytics is gated on the connection, not a specific tier.
• Pushing videos into GMV Max from Spark is a paid feature (free plans see a paywall).

Common problems

"GMV ads say active but there's no spend." Almost always the ad account isn't authorized from the Business Center that owns the shop, or access is view-only. Reconnect via the authorization link from the owning Business Center with admin/operator access.

"Cruva is mapped to the wrong ad account." Unlink and reconnect, selecting the correct account. If it defaulted wrong on first connect, that earlier defaulting bug is fixed — reconnecting now lets you pick the right one.

"No GMV Max campaign showing." Confirm the TikTok Ads API is connected (Ads section shouldn't show the connect prompt), that campaigns exist in TikTok Ads Manager, and that your date range covers them.