Facebook ads allow businesses to promote their products, services, and content to specific target audiences on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the broader internet. As a Facebook user, you may be curious to know what ads are being shown to you and others in your network.
Why would you want to see the ads running on Facebook?
There are a few key reasons why people may want to view the active ads on Facebook:
- To see what types of ads your friends or followers are running for their businesses or causes
- To view ads from brands you’re interested in and potentially click through to their website or Facebook page
- To assess what types of ads are being targeted to you based on your demographics and interests
- To potentially get a sense of current trends and topics based on the ad content being promoted
- General curiosity about the advertisement landscape on the platform
By seeing the ads on Facebook, you can gain useful insights into current campaigns, brand messaging, target audiences, and more. Marketers and business owners often review competitor Facebook ads for research purposes as well.
How to view active ads on Facebook
There are a few different ways to view the ads running on Facebook currently:
1. Check the “Active Ads” section on Facebook business pages
If you visit the Facebook page of a business, you’ll notice a section titled “Active Ads” on the left side. This showcases some of the current ads running from that Page. Simply visit any business Page and look for this section.
This gives you a sample of ads for that specific business. However, you’re limited to seeing only a few of their active ads at one time.
2. Use the Facebook Ad Library
Facebook keeps a searchable Ad Library that anyone can access. This contains all active and inactive ads from Pages and advertisers, dating back 7 years.
To use the Facebook Ad Library:
- Go to https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/
- Search for a specific Page or advertiser by name
- Filter your search by location, dates, and other criteria
- Browse through all of their active and inactive ads
This gives you the full picture of all Facebook ads for a given business or entity. You can see both their current ads as well as past/inactive ads.
3. Use Facebook’s “Why am I seeing this ad?” tool
When viewing a Facebook ad, you can click on the three dots in the top right corner and select “Why am I seeing this ad?” This will show you some of the targeting parameters that caused you to see that specific ad.
For example, it may indicate the advertiser targeted your city, age range, interests, and past activity. This can give you insight into how you may fit the target audience for that ad.
4. Install browser extensions to reveal ads
There are various browser extensions like Facebook Pixel Helper that will visually reveal Facebook ads as you browse the platform or internet. This makes the ads more readily visible as you scroll through your News Feed or visit different websites.
The extension puts an icon on each Facebook ad, allowing you to identify what is an ad versus regular content. This offers a hands-off way to passively view Facebook ads in action.
Tips for viewing Facebook ads
Here are some useful tips when trying to view and assess Facebook ads:
- Actively engage with interests and topics you want to see ads about – Facebook’s algorithm will pick up on this and reflect it in the ads shown to you
- Search for terms and keywords related to your interests to reveal marketing campaigns focused on those topics
- Follow Facebook Pages of brands and businesses so their ads are more likely to appear in your feed
- Click through on some ads to signal interest to the algorithm and see more related ads
- Apply filters in the Facebook Ad Library to narrow your search for relevant ad campaigns
- Use incognito or private browsing modes to view ads as a generic audience member, not influenced by your personal profile and history
Limitations of viewing Facebook ads
While the above methods allow you to see many Facebook ads, there are some limits to what you can access:
- You can only see active ads from Pages you directly follow or search for – not all public active ads from across Facebook
- The Ad Library does not show you inactive ads from advertisers who are not verified or political
- Facebook’s algorithms personalize the majority of ads you actually see based on your profile, limiting visibility into ads targeted to other audiences
- Ads from Pages and advertisers who block you will not be visible to you
- The “Why am I seeing this ad” tool only provides high-level targeting reasons, not the full parameters
- Advertisers can choose to hide their ads from ad transparency tools
So while you can get a sampling of many Facebook ads, you are still limited from seeing the full range of active and inactive ads across the platform at any given point in time.
Should you use an ad blocker on Facebook?
The use of ad blockers comes down to your personal preference as a Facebook user:
- Ad blockers will hide all ads from view, giving you an ad-free experience but also limiting your ability to see what ads are running.
- Conversely, not using an ad blocker will enable you to view ads from Pages and advertisers, providing transparency into the ads being served.
- Marketers often need to view Facebook ads for competitive research, so cannot use ad blockers in their day-to-day work.
If your primary reason for seeing Facebook ads is curiosity or transparency, then ad blockers may not achieve your goal.
Other ways to learn about Facebook ads
In addition to viewing active ads on Facebook itself, here are some other helpful ways to learn about current Facebook advertising:
- Facebook ad benchmarks reports – Facebook puts out quarterly reports highlighting average ad pricing, top sectors, and other trends across regions.
- Facebook Marketing Partners Directory – Search for accredited Facebook marketing professionals and agencies who may share insights from managing real ad campaigns.
- Digital marketing blogs/news – Plenty of industry blogs report on new developments and top ad campaigns from Facebook and other platforms.
- Facebook Marketing API – Developers can access detailed Facebook ad data through the Marketing API, however requires technical knowledge.
- Facebook IQ – Facebook’s own resource providing research, insights, news, and tips on Facebook advertising.
Conclusion
Facebook provides users with transparency into active and historical ads through tools like the Ad Library, though visibility is still limited by personalization algorithms. If your goal is to analyze Facebook marketing tactics and trends, combining first-party ad viewing with external news and data sources gives the fullest picture.
Ultimately Facebook aims to show users the ads most relevant to them, based on their interests, profile, and activity. But for market research or general interest, you can proactively take steps to view more ads from across the platform.