---
title: Fixing Meta underspend — CTC's four phases, and why they never turn off ads
slug: meta-underspend-and-never-turn-off-ads
summary: Common Thread Collective's 4-phase answer when Meta won't spend at target efficiency — (1) creative expansion with big concept swings, (2) bid-surface expansion by duplicating evergreen campaigns into other bid types, (3) an "underspend" ASC for ads that got <3× target CPA in spend, (4) relaxing the ROAS/cost constraint only when the business justifies it — plus the "never turn off an ad" principle and how others disagree.
domain: marketing
tags: [meta-ads, underspend, delivery, bidding, creative-diversity, account-management]
related: [meta-bid-strategy-min-roas-vs-cost-cap, meta-account-structure-2026, meta-breakdown-effect-judge-in-aggregate, meta-push-delivery-and-creative-testing-tool, meta-creative-similarity-entity-ids, meta-budget-scaling-methods]
sources: [yt:-BYAC0ALW78, yt:r51Tj5qQGa0, yt:9mUwsvSK0NY]
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Fixing underspend, and never turning off ads

## TL;DR
CTC's four phases for "Meta won't spend as much as I want at the efficiency I need" (Tony Chopp, Jul 2026):

1. **Creative expansion.** Add new creative to the evergreen acquisition and retention campaigns and active marketing moments. Make big concept swings, not minor variations. This is "almost certainly" the path.[^1]
2. **Bid-surface expansion.** Duplicate evergreen campaigns into **lowest cost, bid cap or cost cap** with the same creative pool. A different bidding profile reaches a different audience, with no extra segmentation.[^2]
3. **Underspend ASC.** One value-optimised campaign with a single ad set and the same tROAS. Load it with evergreen ads that spent **less than 3× the CPA target**. No new creative and no ads that already scaled.[^3]
4. **Constraint relaxation.** Loosen the ROAS target or cost cap beyond what the math says *only* when business performance justifies it. "Be very careful."[^4]

Plus the **never turn off an ad** rule. Under CBO with cost controls, Meta has already cut a poor ad's allocation. Turning it off removes optionality without improving outcomes. Tony calls turning ads off the most common mistake brands make.[^5]

## Details
**The reasoning.** Meta's documentation says historical performance doesn't deterministically predict future delivery (the **breakdown effect**, see [[meta-breakdown-effect-judge-in-aggregate]]). Ad-level kills based on yesterday's ROAS rely on a backward-looking sample the model already outperforms.[^6]

**The operator's three jobs** in CTC's model. One expert operator ("profit engineer") runs the system day to day:
1. ensure budget allocation has no limits at campaign level
2. set bids that match the business economics
3. keep launching new creative ("feed the machine")[^7]

**Context on phase 3.** "The vast majority" of creative put into Meta won't achieve the results you want. The underspend ASC gives neglected ads one more chance without disturbing the core.[^3]

## Disagreements / caveats
- **Turning ads off.**
  - Jon Loomer, as a last resort after several batches: turn off one ad that dominates delivery but performs miserably and watch the aggregate. He calls it peace of mind more than a likely fix.[^8]
  - Dara Denney turns off ads that miss CPA *with meaningful spend* (see [[meta-creative-testing-by-budget]]).
  - Ben Heath warns against the opposite reflex of killing proven ads to force spend into new ones.[^9]
- **Giving neglected ads a chance.** Ben and Loomer use **push delivery** on the specific ad, inside the same ad set, instead of a separate campaign ([[meta-push-delivery-and-creative-testing-tool]]). CTC's extra campaigns are a structure-heavy alternative.
- The phases are CTC's methodology for ecommerce accounts with cost controls. Without cost controls, an unwatched poor ad can keep spending.

## See also
- [[meta-bid-strategy-min-roas-vs-cost-cap]]
- [[meta-account-structure-2026]]: the evergreen / marketing-moment layout
- People: [[people/tony-chopp]]

[^1]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 12:57 — Tony Chopp
[^2]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 13:43 — Tony Chopp
[^3]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 14:32 — Tony Chopp
[^4]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 15:22 — Tony Chopp
[^5]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 16:13 — Tony Chopp
[^6]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 04:56 — Tony Chopp
[^7]: yt:-BYAC0ALW78 @ 17:03 — Tony Chopp
[^8]: yt:r51Tj5qQGa0 @ 06:25 — Jon Loomer
[^9]: yt:9mUwsvSK0NY @ 06:44 — Ben Heath