Tools to Monitor Competitors’ Ads

Ad transparency tools make it easy to monitor ads from any company, including a competitor. The tools provide valuable creative insight, from photography style to video formats, ad copy to call-to-action messaging.

Paid tools, such as Similarweb and Semrush, collate activity across platforms and provide performance detail.

Free tools are helpful, too. Native features on TikTok, Meta, Google, and LinkedIn reveal any company’s past and present campaigns.

Free Ad Transparency Tools

TikTok ad library

The TikTok library includes all ads — active or paused — published after October 1, 2022. Search by keyword or the name linked to the advertiser’s TikTok account. The shared data includes views and audience targeting.

Campaign metrics on the search results page provide an upper and lower range, but clicking a specific number reveals a detailed breakdown. TikTok takes up to 24 hours for new ads to show in the tool, and it won’t show any ad removed for breaching the terms of service.

This example overview page for fashion retailer JD Sports shows 10-100K ad views.

Campaign metrics on TikTok’s ad-library search results page provide an upper and lower range, but clicking a number reveals a detailed breakdown. This example is for JD Sports, a fashion retailer. Click image to enlarge.

Meta Ad Library

The Meta Ad Library allows searching across Meta platforms by brand, keyword, and region. The tool launched in 2018 for, initially, Facebook alone.

The ads link to an advertiser’s Facebook page. (Always check the page’s follower count to ensure you’re on the right company.) Info on inactive campaigns is available only for ads addressing social or political issues. That includes many companies, such as the outdoor brand Finisterre, which promotes social causes.

The Meta Ad Library allows searching across Meta platforms by brand, keyword, and region. This example is for Finisterre, an outdoor brand. Click image to enlarge.

Google Ads Transparency Center

The Google Ads Transparency Center includes ads active in the previous 30 days across search, display, YouTube, and Gmail. Search by advertiser or website — with filters for text, image, and video campaigns.

The example below shows ads for the haircare brand JVN, which I found by searching the Transparency Center for that company’s site. Note Google identifies the company running (purchasing) the ads. In this case, it’s JVN’s parent Ameris Clean Beauty Inc.

Google discloses additional details for political advertising — providing for seven years the spend, reach, and targeting criteria.

Note that new campaigns can take up to 72 hours to appear, and ads won’t show if the advertiser removed them or they violated Google’s policy, resulting in a takedown.

The Google Ads Transparency Center includes ads active in the previous 30 days across search, display, YouTube, and Gmail. JVN haircare is shown here. Click image to enlarge.

LinkedIn company pages

LinkedIn has no searchable ad library, but there is a workaround. First, find a company’s LinkedIn page, then navigate to the “Posts” tab and click “Ads” to see those published in the last six months. Paused and completed campaigns show here, too.

To find ads on LinkedIn, go to the advertiser’s company page, navigate to the “Posts” tab, and click “Ads.” This example is for Oatly, an dairy food alternative. Click image to enlarge.

What about Twitter?

Twitter removed its ads transparency tool in 2019 when it banned political ads from the platform. There is no replacement thus far.