Since late 2024, Andromeda gets credited with a lot. An engine that "watches" your videos like a human. That runs the auction. That makes targeting pointless.
Meta has published enough to sort fact from folklore. This page separates what Meta writes from what practitioners assume, then gets concrete: how many creatives, how many faces, which account structure.
What Meta Andromeda actually is
Andromeda is Meta's ad retrieval system. Meta Engineering introduced it on December 2, 2024, in a technical post. It was already running on Facebook and Instagram.
Ad delivery happens in stages:
- Retrieval. For each person, the system starts from the huge pool of eligible ads and keeps only a short list. That's Andromeda's job.
- Ranking. Heavier models estimate the value of each ad on the list, for the person and for the advertiser.
- The auction. The winning ad has the highest total value: your bid, the likelihood the person takes the target action, and ad quality.
So Andromeda neither ranks nor runs the auction. It decides which ads get a chance to. For this stage, Meta Engineering reports +6% recall and +8% ad quality on some segments.
Think of Netflix. Before ordering a row of films for you, it has to choose which ones go in the row. Andromeda does that first cut, for ads. If your ad doesn't make the list, it goes no further for that person, whatever your bid.
What Andromeda is not
| What you often read | What Meta publishes |
|---|---|
| Andromeda runs the auction | No. The auction comes after, with its three components. |
| Andromeda ranks ads | No. Meta describes separate ranking models that come after retrieval. |
| Andromeda "watches" your videos like a human | Meta doesn't publish what it looks at. It says its system groups ads that share visual and thematic attributes. |
| Andromeda has its own learning phase | No. The learning phase applies to your ad sets. |
| Targeting no longer matters | Meta says the system finds the right audience for each message. You still set real constraints: country, age. |
What Andromeda changes for your creatives
What Meta says
On December 16, 2025, Meta published Demystifying Creative Diversification. Four ideas to keep:
- Andromeda lets through the most relevant and most distinct creatives. Distinct is the key word.
- Similar ads are grouped. The system groups creatives that share key visual and thematic attributes and treats them as variations of one creative.
- Iterating isn't diversifying. Iterating means keeping the same visual and changing only the call-to-action copy. Diversifying means creatives that differ in image, message, format and who they speak to. Meta's example: a Reels ad built for Gen Z next to a Partnership Ad with a creator who talks to young moms.
- The system finds an audience for each message. That's the meaning of the line you see everywhere: your creative does part of your targeting.
What practitioners assume
As far as we know, Meta doesn't publish what it looks at inside a creative. What follows comes from practitioners, us included. Hypotheses, not documentation:
- the person on screen: apparent age, style, way of speaking;
- the setting: bathroom, car, office, outdoors;
- the format: talking head, product demo, before/after, static with text;
- what is said and written: the hook, the problem, the on-screen text;
- the first seconds, which decide whether someone stops scrolling.
One thing is documented. In its auction help page, Meta explains that estimated action rate and ad quality measure relevance. An ad that is more relevant to a person can beat an ad with a higher bid.
Is a new face a new concept?
This is the question that matters. Short answer: Meta doesn't say.
What we know. Meta groups ads that share visual and thematic attributes. Changing the face changes the visual; the theme stays the same. Where variation ends and a new creative begins isn't published.
What we also know. A Partnership Ad header shows the creator's account, the brand's, or both. According to Meta's help center, these ads use signals from both accounts for better ranking. A Partnership Ad run by another creator arrives with another account and other signals. Note: Meta talks about ranking, not retrieval. Don't make it say more. New to the format? Start with our Meta Partnership Ads guide.
Our bet. The same concept, carried by a different face, in a different setting, with a different voice, has a good chance of being treated as a distinct creative. The same face with three different hooks, much less so.
What it looks like
A made-up example. An insulated bottle brand has a concept that works: "my coffee is still hot at the end of the day."
- Version A: a nurse in scrubs, in her car before her shift. Talking-head video.
- Version B: a student in the library. Same line, as a static with big text on the photo.
- Version C: a dad waiting outside school. Wide-shot video, voiceover.
Same idea, three people, three settings, two formats. Each version speaks to a different audience, which matches Meta's definition of diversification.
How many creatives, how many faces
Meta gives no total. It gives one benchmark for Partnership Ads: at least 30% of your creatives, alongside your usual ads, in its October 7, 2026 white paper Together creates better. Creatives, not budget.
For the rest, think in a grid rather than in volume:
- Concepts: genuinely different angles. The problem, the person, the moment in life.
- Faces: the people who carry each concept.
- Formats: static and video. Not one or the other.
A sample calculation, not a rule: 4 concepts, each carried by 3 faces, each in static and video. That's 24 creatives. If 8 are Partnership Ads, you pass 30%.
A simple starting rule: when a concept works, have at least two other faces carry it before writing a new concept. The script exists; only the person changes. And you'll learn whether it's the idea or the person that works. The testing method is in our Meta creative testing guide.
The account structure to keep
- Few campaigns, consolidated ad sets. Meta recommends combining ad sets and campaigns to reduce audience fragmentation.
- Partnership Ads inside your usual ad sets, not in a campaign on the side.
- Few live ads per ad set. Meta has a page on managing ad volume: too many ads split delivery and slow learning.
- Add creatives in batches. Adding an ad is one of the significant edits that can restart the learning phase. One batch a week beats one ad a day.
Andromeda rewards distinct creatives more than clever settings. Spend your energy on concepts and faces, and keep the account simple.