SSubida Skills

Esc to close · results from all notes, skills and people

Mobile apps›User acquisition

Researching competitors' app ads (Meta Ads Library, SocialPeta)

How to find long-running (i.e. profitable) competitor app ads in Meta Ads Library and SocialPeta, what to log for each, and how to read competitors' channel mix and creative patterns.

Updated 2026-10-23·2 sources·user-acquisitionad-creativecompetitor-researchmeta-adstools

Researching competitors’ app ads

TL;DR

  • Longevity = signal. An ad running for months is probably profitable — study those first.1
  • Free: Meta Ads Library (all ads → advertiser → active ads, sorted by impressions).1
  • Paid: SocialPeta — cross-network view (Meta, YouTube/Google, Apple Ads…), weekly trending creatives, competitors’ channel and country spend mix, AI video breakdown.23
  • Research direct competitors and complementary apps / apps with the same audience.45
  • Log each ad: start date, hook, demo, end card.4

Details

Meta Ads Library walkthrough (Oct 2026): search the advertiser (Steve used Cal AI) → active ads, sorted by impressions → find ads started long ago (one had run since June 3, ~4 months) → “See summary” and watch.1 That Cal AI ad was 9 seconds: hook “best way to track calories” with food, app in use, App Store end card.6

What to save: for a calorie tracker, also look at MyFitnessPal or Strava. Note the hook and the audience problem, the demo, the start date, and the end slide with App Store badge.4

SocialPeta features Steve uses (Sep 2026, sponsored):23

  • Advertisers → Top advertisers — who spends most; short-drama apps dominated, a sign that category is ad-driven, not ASO-driven.7
  • Ad creatives → Weekly trending — top 1%/10% creatives per week by creative score; filter by country, OS, network (e.g. YouTube).8
  • Display ads tool — filter category (Health & Fitness), country, iOS; sort by impression share / duration; download video and cover.9
  • Advertiser analysis → channel analysis — e.g. ~90% of Cal AI’s spend on Meta, a little on Apple Ads, ~60% in the US (last 30 days).10
  • Creative analysis — video vs image share; most-used copy phrases (Cal AI: “time”, “limited time”, “free trial”).11
  • AI tools → Video analysis — upload a downloaded ad, get hook/structure breakdown (see Structure and concepts for paid app video ads).12

Adjacent audiences. If your audience overlaps (e.g. women 30–40s, the short-drama audience), mine that category for hooks even if you’re a fitness app.5

Disagreements / caveats

  • SocialPeta sponsored the video; Meta Ads Library covers most needs for Meta-only advertisers.
  • Long run time ≠ guaranteed profit; it’s a heuristic.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Before You Spend $1 on Meta Ads, Watch This @ 12:38 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 06:06 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2

  3. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 07:00 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2

  4. Before You Spend $1 on Meta Ads, Watch This @ 14:28 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 07:00 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2

  6. Before You Spend $1 on Meta Ads, Watch This @ 13:30 — Steve P. Young ↩

  7. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 06:06 — Steve P. Young ↩

  8. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 08:35 — Steve P. Young ↩

  9. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 10:13 — Steve P. Young ↩

  10. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 12:07 — Steve P. Young ↩

  11. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 13:11 — Steve P. Young ↩

  12. Do This Before Running ANY Paid Social Media Marketing @ 14:22 — Steve P. Young ↩