Facebook Ads Library Scraper

Extract comprehensive advertising data from Facebook's Ads Library with advanced filtering options. Search by keywords, filter by media type, target specific countries, and download complete ad details including creative content, targeting information, and performance metrics.

What does this Actor do?

This Actor scrapes publicly available advertising data from Facebook's Ads Library, Meta's transparency tool that shows all active ads running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. Perfect for competitive research, market analysis, and advertising intelligence.

Key features:

• Search ads by keywords or exact phrases
• Filter by media type (images, videos, memes, or all)
• Target specific countries or search globally
• Filter by ad category (political, housing, employment, credit, or all)
• Extract complete ad metadata including creative content and performance data
• Process up to 100 ads per run with customizable limits
• Built on Apify platform with scheduling, monitoring, and API access
• Residential proxy support for reliable scraping

How to use this Actor

1. Open the Actor in Apify Console
2. Enter your search query - Type keywords or phrases to find relevant ads (e.g., "marketing software", "fitness app")
3. Configure filters (optional):
   • Select media type (images, videos, memes, or all)
   • Choose ad category (all ads, political, housing, employment, credit)
   • Add target countries (e.g., US, GB, FR) or select "ALL" for global search
   • Set date range with start date filter
   • Adjust maximum number of ads to scrape (1-100)
4. Click "Start" and wait for results
5. Download your data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format

The Actor will automatically search Facebook's Ads Library and extract all available information for matching ads.

Integrate with Actor using webhooks

Automate your advertising intelligence workflow by setting up webhooks that trigger when scraping completes. Send extracted ad data directly to your analytics platform, database, or notification system without manual intervention.

Pricing

This Actor is available for a simple monthly rental fee:

• Monthly subscription: $18/month for unlimited usage

No hidden costs, no per-query charges, no compute fees. Pay once and extract as much advertising data as you need throughout the month. Perfect for agencies, marketers, and researchers who need ongoing access to Facebook advertising intelligence.

Input configuration

The Actor accepts the following input parameters:

{
  "query": "marketing software",
  "mediaType": "all",
  "adType": "ALL",
  "countries": ["US", "GB"],
  "searchType": "keyword_unordered",
  "maxAds": 50,
  "startDate": "2024-01-01",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"],
    "apifyProxyCountry": "US"
  }
}

Parameters explained:

• query (required): Keywords or phrase to search for in ads (e.g., "fitness app", "SaaS platform")
• mediaType (optional): Filter by content type
  • all - All media types (default)
  • image - Image ads only
  • video - Video ads only
  • meme - Meme-style ads only
• adType (optional): Category of ads to scrape
  • ALL - All ads (default)
  • POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS - Political and issue-related ads
  • HOUSING_ADS - Housing and real estate ads
  • EMPLOYMENT_ADS - Job and employment ads
  • CREDIT_ADS - Financial and credit ads
• countries (optional): Target specific countries using ISO codes (e.g., ["US", "GB", "FR"]). Use ["ALL"] for global search (default)
• searchType (optional): How to match your query
  • keyword_unordered - Match keywords in any order (default)
  • keyword_exact_phrase - Exact phrase match
• maxAds (optional): Maximum number of ads to extract (1-100, default: 100)
• startDate (optional): Filter ads from this date onwards (YYYY-MM-DD format, e.g., "2024-01-01")
• proxyConfiguration (recommended): Residential proxies are highly recommended for reliable Facebook scraping

Output data

The Actor returns comprehensive ad data in structured JSON format. Here's an example of what you'll get for each ad:

{
  "FB AD Link": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=1918178472110022",
  "FB Link": "https://www.facebook.com/ScuolasanbenedettoPomezia/",
  "Company Name": "Istituto San Benedetto Pomezia",
  "Website": "landing.istitutosanbenedetto.info",
  "ad_archive_id": "1918178472110022",
  "page_id": "101423899108756",
  "page_name": "Istituto San Benedetto Pomezia",
  "page_like_count": 862,
  "is_active": true,
  "start_date": 1765958400,
  "end_date": 1767772800,
  "publisher_platform": ["FACEBOOK", "AUDIENCE_NETWORK"],
  "snapshot": {
    "body": {
      "text": "🎓 Scopri il tuo futuro all'Istituto San Benedetto di Pomezia!..."
    },
    "caption": "landing.istitutosanbenedetto.info",
    "cta_text": "Learn more",
    "cta_type": "LEARN_MORE",
    "display_format": "VIDEO",
    "link_url": "http://landing.istitutosanbenedetto.info/",
    "title": "Open days",
    "videos": [
      {
        "video_hd_url": "https://...",
        "video_sd_url": "https://...",
        "video_preview_image_url": "https://..."
      }
    ],
    "images": [],
    "page_profile_picture_url": "https://..."
  }
}

Key output fields:

• FB AD Link: Direct link to view the ad in Facebook Ads Library
• FB Link: Advertiser's Facebook page URL
• Company Name: Name of the advertising entity
• Website: Destination website from the ad
• ad_archive_id: Unique ad identifier
• page_name: Advertiser's page name
• page_like_count: Number of likes on advertiser's page
• is_active: Whether ad is currently running
• start_date: When ad campaign started (Unix timestamp)
• end_date: When ad campaign ends (Unix timestamp)
• publisher_platform: Where ad appears (Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, Messenger)
• snapshot.body.text: Ad copy and text content
• snapshot.cta_text: Call-to-action button text
• snapshot.display_format: Media format (VIDEO, IMAGE, etc.)
• snapshot.link_url: Landing page URL
• snapshot.videos: Array of video URLs (HD, SD, preview)
• snapshot.images: Array of image URLs

Use cases

This Actor is perfect for:

Marketing & Advertising:

• Competitive analysis: Monitor competitors' ad campaigns and strategies
• Market research: Discover trending ad formats and messaging in your industry
• Creative inspiration: Analyze successful ad creatives for campaign planning
• Budget intelligence: Track how long competitors run campaigns

Business Intelligence:

• Brand monitoring: Track brand mentions across Facebook advertising
• Market entry research: Understand advertising landscape before entering new markets
• Trend analysis: Identify emerging products and services through ad content

Academic & Research:

• Political advertising research: Study political ad spending and targeting
• Media studies: Analyze advertising trends and cultural shifts
• Transparency investigations: Research advertising practices for public interest

Agency Services:

• Client reporting: Provide competitive advertising insights to clients
• Strategy development: Build data-driven advertising strategies
• Ad performance benchmarking: Compare client performance against competitors

Integration options

This Actor integrates seamlessly with your existing tools and workflows:

• Apify Storage: Automatically save results to datasets for further processing
• Webhooks: Trigger automated actions when scraping completes
• API Access: Integrate directly into your applications and dashboards
• Zapier/Make: Connect to 1000+ apps for automated workflows
• Scheduling: Run daily, weekly, or monthly to track ad changes over time
• Data Export: Download in JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML formats

Recommended workflow integrations:

• Combine with Google Sheets for easy ad tracking dashboards
• Connect to Slack for real-time competitor ad notifications
• Push to your CRM to enrich lead intelligence data
• Feed into analytics platforms like Tableau or Power BI

Proxy configuration

Important: Facebook aggressively blocks automated access. We strongly recommend using residential proxies for reliable scraping.

The Actor comes pre-configured with optimal proxy settings:

• Residential proxy group (highly recommended)
• US-based proxies by default
• Automatic rotation to avoid detection

If you experience blocking or limited results, residential proxies will dramatically improve success rates.

Legal and ethical considerations

Important: This Actor scrapes publicly available data from Facebook's Ads Library, which Meta provides for transparency purposes. All extracted information is already public and accessible to anyone visiting the Ads Library website.

However, please ensure you:

• Comply with Meta's Terms of Service and Ads Library policies
• Respect applicable data protection laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
• Use extracted data responsibly and ethically
• Do not use data for unauthorized targeting or harassment
• Provide attribution when publishing research or reports
• Avoid overloading Facebook's servers with excessive requests

Political ads disclaimer: Political advertising data may be subject to additional regulations. Ensure compliance with election laws in your jurisdiction when working with political ad data.

The responsibility for legal use of extracted data lies with the user of this Actor.

Troubleshooting

No ads found?

• Try different keywords or broader search terms
• Check if you're filtering by countries where few ads run
• Verify your date range isn't too restrictive
• Some niche topics may have limited advertising activity

Actor getting blocked or returning errors?

• Switch to residential proxies in proxy configuration
• Reduce maxAds limit to avoid rate limiting
• Add delays between runs if scraping frequently
• Check Facebook Ads Library is accessible from your region

Missing data fields?

• Not all ads have complete data (e.g., some lack video URLs)
• Older ads may have less information available
• Political ads have different data structures

Need specific countries?

• Use ISO country codes (US, GB, FR, DE, etc.)
• For multiple countries, use array format: ["US", "GB", "CA"]
• Use ["ALL"] for global search across all countries

Need help?

• Check the Issues tab for known problems and solutions
• Join Apify Discord to discuss with other developers
• Contact me directly for custom solutions or enterprise needs

Tips for best results

Search optimization:

• Use specific, relevant keywords for better targeting
• Test both keyword_unordered and exact_phrase search types
• Include brand names for competitor analysis
• Use industry-specific terminology

Data collection strategies:

• Run regular scrapes to track campaign changes over time
• Start with broad searches, then refine based on results
• Use country filters to focus on specific markets
• Set date ranges to analyze seasonal advertising patterns

Performance tips:

• Start with smaller maxAds limits (20-50) to test queries
• Use residential proxies to avoid blocking
• Schedule runs during off-peak hours for better reliability
• Combine with other Actors for comprehensive market intelligence

About the developer

Built by an experienced Apify developer specializing in social media scraping and advertising intelligence. This Actor is maintained and regularly updated to handle Facebook's platform changes.

Need custom features, bulk processing, white-label solutions, or integration support? Contact me through the Apify platform for tailored solutions.

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Questions or feedback? Use the Issues tab or reach out directly through Apify messaging.