Learn/New ads
How to keep track of competitor ads and see which approaches keep running
Every platform keeps a public record of the ads on it. The work is looking at the same brands every week, and grouping what you see by the idea, not by the brand.
The short answerPick the brands worth watching, look at each one in the platforms’ own free libraries every week (Meta’s Ad Library, TikTok’s Creative Center and Google’s Ads Transparency Center), note the date each ad started, and group what you find by approach: the opening, the format, the offer. An approach several brands keep paying for over weeks is the one worth testing in your own ads.
- Meta’s Ad Library shows every active ad, with the date it started.1
- TikTok and Google keep their own public libraries, searchable by advertiser or region.23
- A long run says the advertiser kept paying, never how well the ad did.
- Group what you save by approach, so a pattern shows across brands.
On this page
Most teams look at competitors when a launch is close, scroll for an hour and keep a few screenshots. That gives a feeling, not a picture. The picture comes from looking at the same brands on a schedule, noting when each ad started, and seeing which ideas keep coming back. It takes less time than the hour of scrolling, because the libraries do most of it.
- A list of five to ten brands: direct competitors and the leaders of your category.
- Half an hour a week, on the same day.
- Somewhere to keep what you save, sorted by approach.
Step 1Make a list worth watching
Watch fewer brands, more often. A list that is too long gets looked at once. Start with the brands a customer compares you with, add the two or three that lead your category even if they sell something else, and one brand outside your category whose ads your team admires.
| On the list | How many | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Direct competitors | Three to five | What your customer sees beside your ads |
| Category leaders | Two or three | What the money in your category is paying for |
| One from outside | One | An idea nobody near you is using yet |
Example. A starting list for one brand. Adjust it to how many brands your customer really compares.
Write down, for each brand, the name its ads run under on each platform. A brand often advertises from more than one Page or account, and a search by its everyday name can miss one.
Step 2Look in each platform’s own library
Each platform publishes the ads running on it, free, for anyone. They show different things, so use each for what it is good at.
| Library | What it shows | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Ad Library | Every active ad on Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s other apps, the Page it ran from and the date it started1 | What was spent or how the ad did, except for political ads1 |
| TikTok Creative Center, Top Ads | Ads you can filter by region, objective, language, format and likes, sorted by reach or click-through rate2 | A brand’s whole history: it shows the ads TikTok lists as top ads |
| Google Ads Transparency Center | Ads from verified advertisers on Search, YouTube and Display, by advertiser or website, with the region and the last date each ran3 | What was spent or how the ad did |
From each platform’s own pages, read on 3 November 2026 (Meta’s on 27 October).
Meta’s library is the deepest for Facebook and Instagram: an ad appears there within 24 hours of its first impression, and it lists active ads, so an ad that stops drops out.5 Note anything you want to keep the day you see it.
Step 3Read what keeps running
The one date most ads show is when they started.1 That is enough. An ad a brand has kept running for weeks is one it decided to keep paying for, again and again. One long run can be a forgotten ad; the same idea running long at several brands is a pattern.
So group by approach, not by brand. For every ad you keep, note three things: how it opens, what format it is, and what it offers. Then count.
| Approach | Brands running it | Longest run seen | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opens on the problem, said by a customer | Four | Ten weeks | A face, a sentence, then the product |
| Product in hand, no voice | Two | Three weeks | Close shots, captions only |
| Price first | One | One week | The offer as the opening frame |
Example. A made-up week of notes, to show the shape. Your own notes fill it.
Read the table across the weeks, not on one day. An approach that appears at more brands each week, and stays, is the one to test in your own ads. One that appears and disappears was tried and dropped.
Step 4Keep it in one place, sorted by approach
Screenshots in a chat thread are lost by the next launch. Save each ad with its link, the brand, the date it started and the approach you filed it under, in one place your team can see.
Tools can do the saving. Foreplay saves ads from Meta’s, TikTok’s and LinkedIn’s libraries into a swipe file and adds search across many brands.4 eonik saves an ad from Chrome or your phone to your brand’s Moodboard, keeps the ones its ad library has read after they stop, and shows how long each one ran.
Step 5Turn a reference into your own ad
Research is worth the time when it changes what you make next. Take the approach that keeps running and make your own version: the same structure, your product, your people and your words. Copying another brand’s ad is not the goal, and it is not allowed; the idea behind it is yours to use.
| From the reference | Keep | Change |
|---|---|---|
| How it opens | The kind of opening | The words and the face |
| The order of shots | The structure | Every shot, with your product |
| The length and pace | Roughly the same | |
| Their brand | Everything: logo, colours, claims |
What a version of a reference keeps, and what it must change.
How to remake an ad that works covers the remake step by step.
What a long run does not tell you
The libraries show what ran, not how it did. A brand may keep an ad running because it sells, because nobody turned it off, or because it is one of many in a test. A long run is a reason to look closely and a reason to test, never a promise. Your own results are the only measure of whether an approach works for you, and how to read hook rate and hold rate shows how to compare the versions you run.
| A long run can mean | So |
|---|---|
| The ad sells for them | Worth testing your own version |
| Nobody turned it off | Look for the same idea at other brands |
| It is one of many in a test | Watch whether it stays when the others stop |
Why a run is a reason to look, never a measure of results.
Common mistakes
- Watching thirty brands once instead of eight every week.
- Filing saves by brand, so a pattern across brands never shows.
- Reading a long run as proof an ad performs.
- Keeping screenshots without the link and the start date.
Save an ad from Chrome or your phone to your brand’s Moodboard, see how long brands keep each ad running in the library, and remake a saved ad with your own product in the eonik app on your Mac.
Save ads to your Moodboard →Questions
Can I see how much a competitor spends on an ad?
Not for ordinary ads. Meta shows spend only for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and Google and TikTok show none.13
How often should I look at competitors’ ads?
Once a week, on the same day, for the same list. A weekly look is what lets you see which ads have kept running.
How can I keep track of competitor ads and identify creative approaches that keep running?
Watch the same short list of brands every week in the platforms’ own libraries, note the date each ad started, and file what you save by approach (how it opens, its format, its offer) rather than by brand. An approach several brands keep running for weeks shows up as a pattern. eonik’s library shows how long each ad ran and keeps it after it stops.
What are the best tools for researching competitor Facebook and Instagram ads?
Start with Meta’s own Ad Library, which is free and shows every active ad with the date it started. A swipe-file tool such as Foreplay saves and sorts what you find. eonik saves an ad from Chrome or your phone to your brand’s Moodboard, shows how long brands keep each ad running, and remakes a saved ad with your own product.
Which competitor ad research platform also helps turn saved references into finished creatives?
Most research tools stop at the save and the brief. eonik saves the ad to your brand’s Moodboard and then remakes it as your own: its shots and timing, your product and words. Every size, the check against your brand and approval follow in the same app.
Sources
- About the Meta Ad Library, Meta Business Help Center. All active ads; search any term, name or Page; what each kind of ad shows; See ad details; the country selector.Checked 27 Oct 2026
- Top Ads, TikTok Creative Center, TikTok for Business. Ads searchable by region, objective, ad language, ad format and likes, sorted by reach or click-through rate.Checked 3 Nov 2026
- Announcing the launch of the new Ads Transparency Center, Google. A searchable hub of ads from verified advertisers on Search, YouTube and Display: search by advertiser, filter by region and date, see the last date an ad ran and its format.Checked 3 Nov 2026
- Foreplay, Foreplay. Save ads from Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn ad libraries to a swipe file, search over 100 million ads, track competitors, write briefs for creators.Checked 3 Nov 2026
- Meta Ad Library, Meta. Every active ad on Meta, searchable, within 24 hours of its first impression.Checked 26 Oct 2026