How to Benchmark Your Competitors on Facebook Ads

‍Facebook Ads Library: Spy on your competitors' ads

Looking for a free tool to run a visual competitive benchmark of ads on Facebook?

Facebook Ads Library lets you spy on your competitors' ads on Facebook (as well as on Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network).

‍

You'll have free access to all your competitors' visual creatives and ad copy on Facebook. Simply search for ads by keyword or by your competitor's brand name. Before searching, make sure to select "All ads" rather than just "Social issue, electoral or political ads."

The Ads Library lets you filter ads by country, region, platform (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Audience Network), time period (dates), keywords, delivery status (active or inactive), and potential reach (from 100 to...

How to benchmark your competitors' paid social ads using Facebook Ads Library

1. Visual analysis of ads

• On which platforms are your competitors running their ads (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Audience Network)?

For example, for the Monoprix brand, here's where you can see which platforms the advertiser has chosen to run its ads on:

‍

‍

Here we can see that Monoprix chose to run its ads on Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger.

• What ad formats are your competitors using (story, static image, carousel, video, instant experience, collection ad, lead ad, etc.)?

You can analyze whether your competitor is using multiple ad formats for a single ad.

‍

2. Analyzing ad performance

Select an ad and click "See ad details." The right-hand column will then show you the ad's performance data.

‍

From there, you can analyze:

- How many people did the ad reach (reach, impressions)?

Potential reach: the estimated number of people who saw the ad at least once.

Impressions: the number of times the ad appeared on screen (mobile, desktop, tablet).

- What is the average budget spent on this ad?

When you click on an ad, the Facebook Ads Library gives you a snapshot of the budget spent on it. Note that the ads need to be old enough, for example 6 months. If you try to analyze an ad that's currently live, this data won't be available.

- What is the audience (gender and age) and which regions did this ad reach?

‍

Want expert support on paid social, or your broader digital marketing strategy? Don't hesitate to reach out!

By Candice Echavidre