TikTok 9:16 ad at 540x960: Timeline render plus captions is $0.30

A finished 9:16 TikTok ad of up to 60 seconds costs $0.30 to assemble and caption on Sume: $0.10 for the Timeline 1.0 render (ceil of the output minutes at $0.10 each) and $0.20 for one standalone caption job. TikTok's ad specification page lists 9:16 as the recommended ratio for non-Spark video ads, with a minimum of 540x960. Sume's Timeline default output is 1080x1920, which is above that minimum.

What TikTok lists

These are the values from TikTok's video ads specification page for non-Spark ads. Spark Ads are a separate case with mp4 or mov and no duration restriction.

What Sume gives you

Timeline 1.0 takes one audio spine and ordered video[] slots and returns one MP4. The default output is 1080x1920. You can set output.width and output.height to even integers from 256 to 2160, so 540x960 is allowed if you want a smaller file. The output.fps field accepts 24, 25, 30 or 60, and if you omit it the job follows the source rate.

The docs state the rate as $0.10 per ceil(output minute). A 45-second ad and a 60-second ad both bill one minute. A 61-second ad bills two.

Why render at 1080x1920 and not at the minimum

The 540x960 figure is a floor, not a target. TikTok's page says 9:16 is recommended and lists the minimum, so a 1080x1920 render passes the size check with room to spare. Setting output.width and output.height to 540 and 960 is allowed by Timeline, but it makes the file smaller at the cost of detail, and the Sume docs give no reason to prefer it. The default needs no extra request field.

The same logic applies to the other ratios on the TikTok page. If you also need a 1:1 version, the TikTok minimum is 640x640. Render it as a second Timeline job with output.width and output.height of 1080 and 1080, which are even integers inside the 256 to 2160 range. A second 60-second render is another $0.10, and its caption job is another $0.20.

Checks before you upload

Sume does not state the bitrate or the container details of its Timeline output in the docs, so do not assume TikTok's bitrate and file-size limits are met. Run video inspect on the render. It returns probe facts, so you can compare the width, height and duration with the TikTok table. Check the file size yourself against the 500 MB limit.

Order matters. Render the Timeline first and caption the finished MP4, because captions burn onto the final frames. The caption job takes a public HTTPS video URL and rejects signed or private URLs, so confirm that the URL of your render is one it accepts. Use POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan before you render: it is unbilled and returns billable_minutes and estimated_cost_usd_micros.