A Partnership Ad is an ad you pay for and control, but it runs with a creator's name at the top. And Meta now recommends adding them to your everyday campaigns.
What Meta Partnership Ads are
Partnership Ads are Meta ads that show a partner in the header: a creator, another brand or a business. You handle budget, targeting and objective in your own Ads Manager. The partner lends their identity.
The format used to be called Branded Content Ads. Meta renamed it in May 2023.
The header can show both accounts, only the first one, or a dynamic identity chosen by Meta. The account that published the original content always comes first. According to Meta, these ads use signals from both accounts for ranking.
Why Meta is pushing the format
Two numbers, both published by Meta.
| Number | Source | What is compared |
|---|---|---|
| −19% CPA and +13% CTR, on average | Meta announcement of December 11, 2025, covered by EMARKETER the next day | Usual campaigns + Partnership Ads, versus usual campaigns alone |
| At least 30% of creatives as Partnership Ads | Meta white paper of October 7, 2026 | Conversion Lift studies with EMEA advertisers: these campaigns beat usual campaigns alone on cost and return |
Two caveats. The −19% does not compare the same creative run from two accounts; it compares campaigns with and without Partnership Ads. And the 30% applies to creatives, not budget: it is a number for your creative brief.
These are Meta's own tests on Meta's own platform. A direction, not a guarantee for your account.
Partnership ad codes
The ad code is the "one post at a time" route. The creator generates it on a specific piece of content and sends it to you. Consent is given as soon as they share the code: no further approval needed.
On the creator's side:
- On Instagram, while creating a post, story or reel: Partnership label & ads, then the Get partnership ad code toggle. For content already published, same path from the three dots.
- On Facebook: the three dots on the content, Share partnership ad code, then the toggle.
- They copy the code and send it to you.
On the brand's side, in Ads Manager:
- At ad level, turn on the Partnership ad toggle.
- Click Enter ad code or post info and paste the code, post ID or URL.
- Choose the second identity and the header display, then publish.
Good to know:
- One code matches one piece of content. It can be used by 2 partners at the same time.
- The creator needs a professional account on Instagram, or a Page or a profile in professional mode on Facebook.
- If they turn the code off, nobody can create new ads with it. Ads already running keep going.
- The ad does not appear on the creator's profile. You can find it in Meta's Ad Library.
- The creator never gives you their password, with a code or with permissions.
Account-level permissions
The second route: the brand requests permission on the creator's whole account, from the hub in Meta Business Suite. In June 2026, Meta announced it was merging its Partnership Ads Hub and Creator Marketplace into the Creator Marketing Hub, the name its help pages now use.
The path Meta describes: Creator Marketing, Creators tab, Manage permissions, then Add partnership. You search for the creator, choose your brand account and send. They accept in the Instagram app, the Facebook app or the hub. If their accounts are linked, the approval covers both.
Once the request is accepted, you can:
- create Partnership Ads with their identity without any existing post, by uploading your own creative;
- promote their content that tags you;
- include or exclude their custom audience.
Publish an ad without permission in place and Meta holds it pending; the creator receives the request. Nothing runs until they accept.
In its white paper, Meta recommends this route for your creators.
Ad code or permissions: which one to pick
| Partnership ad code | Account-level permissions | |
|---|---|---|
| Who starts | The creator generates the code | The brand sends a request from the hub |
| What you can run | The content linked to the code | Ads without an existing post, plus content that tags you |
| The creative | Comes from the original post | Your uploaded creative, or an existing post |
| Creator stops it | Turns off the code (live ads continue) or stops live ads | Removes permission: running ads are paused |
| Typical use | A one-off push | An ongoing collaboration |
In practice: the code to boost a post that already exists. Permissions as soon as you want to test several creatives with the same person.
Setup in 6 steps
- Sign the contract first: usage rights, duration, territories, revocation.
- Check the accounts. Creator on a professional account. Brand with a Facebook Page or an Instagram professional account. An agency needs access to the brand's Instagram account, Page and ad account.
- Choose the route: ad code or account-level permissions.
- Create the ad with the Partnership ad toggle.
- Put it next to your other ads (see below).
- Check delivery. Ad pending? Remind the creator. After that, it goes through Meta's usual review.
Structure: inside your campaigns, not next to them
The common reflex is a separate "Partnership Ads" campaign to track it cleanly. Meta recommends the opposite. Its help pages describe two setups:
- the Partnership Ad and your usual ads in the same ad set;
- separate ad sets in the same campaign, with Advantage+ campaign budget turned on.
Either way, the ads share budget, and delivery follows what works best for each person: the brand or the creator. The white paper puts it in one line: add them to your business-as-usual campaigns, don't run them on their own.
Almost every objective is available, sales included. Advantage+ sales campaigns accept them too.
Placements on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp
| Platform | Placements |
|---|---|
| Feed, web feed, Explore, Stories, Reels | |
| Feed, Stories, Reels, Marketplace | |
| Status, since September 2026, with both identities always shown |
Check before you brief:
- Music: original audio or royalty-free sounds from the Sound Collection. No licensed tracks, unless on Reels and you hold the rights.
- Stories: some stickers are refused, including the link sticker. Keep text and logo inside the safe zone.
- Reels: a reel published before October 15, 2021 is not eligible.
- Catalog: no Instagram Stories when you combine Partnership Ads with Advantage+ catalog ads.
For lengths, ratios and stickers, the reference is Meta's eligible formats page.
Partnership Ads vs Collaborative Ads
Two similar names, two different uses.
Collaborative Ads are for brands sold through retailers. The retailer shares part of its catalog, and the brand runs catalog ads that send people to the retailer's site or app.
Partnership Ads add a partner's identity to your ad. Selling on your own site? This is your format. Also selling through retailers? Collaborative Ads come on top; they don't replace anything.
A creator brief in 6 blocks
The brief exists to produce an ad that lands in the feed of someone who wasn't looking for you.
- Context. The product, the goal, the audience, in two sentences.
- Core message. One sentence, one benefit. Not a feature list.
- The first seconds. The only place to be precise: the hook or the opening situation. The creator plays the rest their own way.
- Format. Vertical for Reels and Stories, target length, captions. Original audio or royalty-free sounds.
- Do and don't. On camera, product in real use. No script read word for word, no claim you're not allowed to make.
- Deliverables. Source file in good resolution, dates, one round of feedback.
The route changes the brief. With a code, the creator has to publish the content. With permissions, they deliver the file and you create the ad without them posting anything, which makes testing several hooks on one idea much easier.
Measurement: what proves and what only hints
The question to ask: do my campaigns perform better with Partnership Ads than without? The CPA of one Partnership Ad, on its own, doesn't answer it.
| Method | What it tells you | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion Lift | The effect caused by your ads, thanks to a holdout group that doesn't see them | Proof |
| A/B test | Which strategy works best, on two separate audience splits | Comparison, not a lift test |
| Switch Partnership Ads off, compare before/after | A trend. Season, auctions and other creatives change between the two periods | Signal |
| Ad-by-ad CPA in the same ad set | Nothing about the contribution of Partnership Ads, since Meta doesn't spread budget evenly | Not conclusive |
If your spend allows it, run a Conversion Lift study. Otherwise, an A/B test between a campaign with Partnership Ads and the same campaign without them.
Revocation: plan for it
The creator can stop at any time. If they remove account-level permissions, running ads are paused. With a code, they can stop live ads from their professional dashboard. Your contract should say what notice period applies and what happens to active ads, and you should always keep spare creatives ready so a pause doesn't stall a campaign.