Guides · Ad research
How to see a competitor's Meta ads and how long they run
Last updated November 10, 20266 stepsExamples from 5 recordsBy Every Signal
Open Meta's Ad Library at facebook.com/ads/library, pick a country and the All ads category, search for the competitor's Page, and filter to active ads. Each ad shows the date it started running, so today's date minus that date is how long it has run. For US ads Meta publishes no spend, reach or targeting, so the practical sign of a winning ad is one that has run the longest and in the most versions.
Every Signal does this as part of every teardown and through its API: it counts a company's active ads across all of its Pages, follows each one to its landing page and scores the creatives against real ad patterns. Below are the steps to do it yourself and what the counts looked like for five real companies.
What the counts look like
Five companies' Meta ads, from Every Signal records
Counts are from the Meta Ad Library on the record date, tagged verified in each record. They change daily; the point is what to look for.
| Company | Active Meta ads | Longest running | Where the ads land | Record date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calm | 575 on one Page | Not in the record; 525 of 575 started in the last 30 days | quiz.calm.com 480, Google Play 68, calm.com/new-member-offer 16 | 2026-11-02 |
| Kalshi | About 1,100 on one Page | Started Aug 14, 2026, about 76 days on Oct 29 | Mostly kalshi.com/f/sign-up; also /hedging, the app store, /pro | 2026-10-29 |
| Quest Nutrition | 48 on its Page, plus 3 creator NIL ads | 61 days | 45 of 48 to retail (40 MikMak where-to-buy, 5 Amazon), 0 to its own site | 2026-11-02 |
| FashionPass | 25 across 2 Pages (21 own, 4 on a partner Page) | 32 days | Home page and seasonal edits such as /fall-edit | 2026-10-23 |
| Shortical | 3,651 across 21 Facebook Pages | Not in the record; 1,570 new ads launched Oct 12-18 | About half to its web player at episode 1, half to series pages in the App Store | 2026-10-19 |
Records: calm kalshi quest-nutrition fashionpass shortical
The steps
Six steps in the free Ad Library
1. Find every Page that advertises for the brand
Search by brand name and by domain. Brands often run ads from more than one Page, and a count from the main Page alone can be badly short.
- FashionPass ran 21 ads on its own Page and 4 more on
The Quality Edit
, a partner and advertorial Page. fashionpass verified - Shortical's 3,651 active ads were spread over 21 Facebook Pages. shortical verified
- Watch for look-alike names: a Page called
Quest
(testwithquest) belongs to Quest Diagnostics and had to be excluded from the Quest Nutrition count. quest-nutrition verified
2. Filter to active ads in one country
Set the country (for example United States), the ad category to All ads
and the status to active. You can also filter by platform (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, Threads) and by media type. Ads run across Meta's apps are one entry, with the platforms listed on it.
3. Read the start date on each ad
Each entry says when it started running. Subtract it from today's date to get days running. Two cautions:
- A new campaign resets the clock. Quest moved into a new fiscal-year campaign around September 2, which reset run lengths, so its longest ad showed 61 days even though the creative style was older. quest-nutrition verified
- An ad marked as having several versions is one entry with variants. Count both the entries and the versions.
4. Rank by days running and versions
For US ads that are not about politics or social issues, Meta publishes no spend, no reach and no targeting. Every Signal's records therefore rank ads by days running times the number of versions, and tag that ranking inferred: a company keeps paying for an ad that works, but a long run is a sign, not proof. trybe fashionpass
For ads shown in the European Union, the Ad Library adds reach and audience details under EU rules, which is worth checking when the competitor advertises there.
5. Open where each ad lands
The landing page tells you more than the creative. Write down the URL, the offer and the price on it.
- 480 of Calm's 575 ads sent people to a quiz on quiz.calm.com, not to calm.com, where the offer and the trial are different. calm verified
- Quest sent 45 of 48 ads to retail pages and none to its own site: Meta works as a store driver there. quest-nutrition verified
- FashionPass ads headlined
10 Items / Month for $75
while the landing pages said $39 for the first month, then $125 a month. fashionpass verified
To see the full path from that landing page to the payment screen, use the paywall and funnel guide.
6. Count the mix and the cadence
Count formats (image, video, dynamic creative) and how many ads started in the last 30 days. Calm launched 525 of its 575 in the last 30 days, mostly dynamic creative (423); FashionPass 24 of 25. A company that replaces almost everything monthly is testing hard, and its long runners stand out more. calm fashionpass verified
Check the other libraries too: Google's Ads Transparency Center (FashionPass had 62 ads there) and TikTok's library, which only covers ads shown in Europe, so a TikTok pixel on the site with no ads in the library usually means US-only TikTok ads or retargeting.
Questions
FAQ
Can you see how much a competitor spends on Meta ads?
Not for ordinary US ads. Meta's Ad Library publishes spend only for ads about social issues, elections or politics. For other US ads it shows the creative, the start date, the platforms and the versions, so the usual proxy for a winning ad is how long it has run and in how many versions.
How do I know how long a Meta ad has been running?
Each ad in the Ad Library shows the date it started running. Today's date minus that date is the number of days it has run. A new campaign resets that date, so a brand's real creative age can be longer.
Does the Meta Ad Library include Instagram ads?
Yes. It covers ads across Meta's apps, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network and Threads, and each entry lists the platforms it runs on.
Why does my count differ from someone else's?
Usually because of Pages and filters. Brands run ads from partner, advertorial and creator Pages as well as their own, counts change daily, and the country and active-status filters change the total.
Can Every Signal do this for me?
Yes. The analyze_ads job (150 credits, $15) scores a brand's live Meta ads against real ad patterns and returns fixes and new hooks, and the intel_report job ($49) includes a company's live Meta ads in a full snapshot. Fund and Firm plans re-scan watched companies weekly and email you when their active ad count changes.
Let your agent do it
Get a competitor's live Meta ads scored in minutes
On the Every Signal API and MCP server, analyze_ads takes a brand name or a set of creatives and returns each ad scored against the ad patterns in the knowledge base, with fixes and new hooks (150 credits, $15). intel_report adds the tracking stack, search footprint and homepage (490 credits, $49). Credits are prepaid and the first key gets 50 free. Setup is at /connect/; prices are on /pricing/.