> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.moleculedata.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.moleculedata.com/competitors.md).

# Competitors

Monitor the Meta ads your competitors are running, updated daily.

The **Competitors** page tracks what your competitors are running on Meta — new ads, ended ads, and how their advertising cadence changes over time. Data is captured from the public Meta Ad Library and updated daily.

## Adding a competitor

1. Click **Add competitor**.
2. Open the [Meta Ad Library](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/), pick a country and ad category, search for the brand, click its row, and copy the URL from your browser.
3. Paste the URL (or the numeric page ID) into the dialog, set the **country**, and — for global brands — tick **"Track this brand's ads globally"** to pull ads from 33 major markets in one query.
4. The dialog looks the page up and shows a preview; confirm with **Add competitor**.

The number of competitors you can track depends on your plan.

## What you get per competitor

* **Gallery** — every captured ad, filterable by status (active / ended), platform (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, WhatsApp, Threads), media type (image / video / carousel), start date, and full-text search over titles and copy. Sort by most recent, longest running, or newest seen.
* **Ad detail** — click any ad for its media and copy, a lifecycle timeline (first seen, last active, active days), a day-by-day appearance strip, EU reach with a week-over-week trend, and a link to view the ad on Meta.
* **Activity** — a day-grouped feed of changes: which ads appeared and which ended.
* **Cadence** — the strategic view: active ads now vs. 7 days ago, new ads in the last 7 and 30 days, average ads per week, average ad lifespan, total EU reach, and a 90-day trend chart.

{% hint style="info" %}
New competitors show "First snapshot pending" until the next daily capture run. Ad images and videos are stored during nightly captures, so a just-added ad's media can take until the next run to appear.
{% endhint %}