Facebook Ad Library tool
Genyad includes Meta Ad Library search, so you can see what competitors are running and how long each ad has been live. Longevity is the only real performance signal the library gives you for commercial advertisers: spend and results are not published, and any tool claiming otherwise is estimating.
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How to do it in Genyad
- Search two or three direct competitors plus one adjacent category.
- Sort by how long each ad has been running and keep the long-lived ones.
- Write down the argument each survivor makes in one sentence. Not the visual, the argument.
- Brief three variations against the strongest argument, using your own footage.
- Test yours against your current winner rather than against theirs.
What good looks like
| Signal | Published? | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| The creative itself | Yes | Study the argument, not the edit |
| First seen date | Yes | Longevity is the best available proxy for performance |
| Number of active variants | Yes | Tells you how seriously they test |
| Spend | Political and issue ads only | Do not infer it for commercial ads |
| Results, CTR, ROAS | No | Any tool showing these is guessing |
Mistakes that cost you the test
- Copying the ad. You cannot see whether it worked, and you do not have their offer or their audience.
- Chasing the newest ads. New ads are tests. Old ads are winners.
- Trusting estimated spend. For commercial advertisers it is not published data.
- Researching without producing. A folder of screenshots is not a test.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see how much a competitor spends on Facebook ads?
Not for commercial advertisers. Meta publishes spend ranges only for political and issue ads. Tools that show commercial spend are estimating it.
What is the best signal in the Ad Library?
How long an ad has been running. An ad live for four months is almost certainly working, which makes its argument worth testing in your own footage.
Is this the same as an ad spy tool?
It queries the same public source. What Genyad adds is the short path from a finding to a briefed variation.
Can I research TikTok ads too?
TikTok's Creative Center is a separate public source and is not integrated.