Facebook Ads Library Scraper — Meta & Instagram Ads

Collect · Analyze · Outperform
The most data-rich Facebook Ads Library scraper on Apify —
daysRunning, structured spend ranges, full carousel cards, video URLs, and landing pages.

Why this one? · Input · Output · Use cases · Pricing · What's new

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Facebook Ads Library Scraper extracts ads from the Meta Ads Library — Meta's public database of every ad running on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads, and Audience Network.

Built for marketers, agencies, and researchers who need clean, structured data — not raw HTML or incomplete JSON. Every field is normalized, deduped, and ready to pipe into your analysis tool or CRM.

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🙏 Does this Actor save you time?

It is built and maintained by one developer. A rating on the Store page takes ten seconds and is the only signal new users have — it genuinely decides whether this Actor gets found at all.

Ran into something broken, missing, or confusing? Please open an Issue instead of leaving it unsaid. I read every one, reply within a day, and fix fast. Recent fixes, all shipped the same week: carousel and catalog ads now return every card's image, impressions and audience-size data now come through, and runs no longer fail on searches that simply have no matches.

Missing a field or a country? Ask — most requests are a small change.

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✨ What makes this different

Feature	This actor	Most others
daysRunning — how long the ad has been live	✅ computed automatically	❌
Spend as structured {min, max} — not a raw string	✅	❌
All carousel cards extracted as individual objects	✅	First card only
Video URLs (fbcdn.net CDN)	✅	❌
Image URLs for all image ads	✅	❌
Landing page URL via resolveSnapshotUrls	✅ opt-in	❌
Cross-search deduplication	✅	❌
Login wall detection with clear error message	✅	❌
Filters: status, ad category, date range, country	✅	Partial

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💡 Why daysRunning is the most valuable field

An ad running for 60+ days is profitable. The advertiser keeps paying because it converts.

daysRunning lets you instantly separate proven winners from tests without any manual calculation. Sort by it descending and you have a ranked list of your competitor's best-performing creatives — right now.

No other Facebook ads scraper on Apify computes this field automatically.

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⚙️ Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchTerms	string[]	["Nike"]	Brand names or keywords to search
countries	string[]	["US"]	ISO 2-letter country codes (e.g. "US", "GB", "DE")
adType	string	"ALL"	ALL · POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS · HOUSING · EMPLOYMENT · FINANCIAL_PRODUCTS_AND_SERVICES
adActiveStatus	string	"ACTIVE"	ALL · ACTIVE · INACTIVE
maxAds	integer	25	Max ads per search term + country pair
resolveSnapshotUrls	boolean	false	Visit each ad snapshot page to extract the real landing page URL and CDN media files
startDate	string	—	Show ads that were active on/after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
endDate	string	—	Show ads that were active on/before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Note on date filters: Meta shows ads that were running during the specified period, which may include ads that started before startDate if they were still active within your range. This is Meta's behavior, not a scraper limitation.

Example inputs

Quick test — Nike US active ads

{
  "searchTerms": ["Nike"],
  "countries": ["US"],
  "adActiveStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "maxAds": 25
}

Agency competitor research — 3 brands × 3 countries

{
  "searchTerms": ["Adidas", "Nike", "Puma"],
  "countries": ["US", "GB", "DE"],
  "adActiveStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "maxAds": 200
}

Political ads with spend data (EU/DSA)

{
  "searchTerms": ["election"],
  "countries": ["DE"],
  "adType": "POLITICAL_AND_ISSUE_ADS",
  "adActiveStatus": "ALL",
  "maxAds": 100
}

Date range — ads from a specific campaign window

{
  "searchTerms": ["Nike"],
  "countries": ["US"],
  "adActiveStatus": "ALL",
  "maxAds": 50,
  "startDate": "2025-01-01",
  "endDate": "2025-06-30"
}

resolveSnapshotUrls — get real landing page URLs

{
  "searchTerms": ["Nike"],
  "countries": ["US"],
  "adActiveStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "maxAds": 20,
  "resolveSnapshotUrls": true
}

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📦 Output schema

Each item in the dataset represents one ad. Carousel ads include all cards as separate objects inside creatives.

{
  "adArchiveId": "1234567890",
  "pageId": "987654321",
  "pageName": "Nike",
  "adActiveStatus": "ACTIVE",
  "adDeliveryStartTime": "2025-11-01T00:00:00.000Z",
  "adDeliveryStopTime": null,
  "daysRunning": 154,
  "publisherPlatforms": ["facebook", "instagram"],
  "mediaType": "VIDEO",
  "cardCount": 3,
  "displayFormat": "CAROUSEL",
  "categories": ["UNKNOWN"],
  "creativeVariantCount": 3,
  "snapshotImageUrls": null,
  "snapshotVideoUrls": null,
  "creatives": [
    {
      "body": "Just Do It. Shop the new Air Max collection.",
      "title": "Air Max 2026",
      "caption": "nike.com",
      "description": null,
      "ctaText": "Shop Now",
      "ctaType": "SHOP_NOW",
      "destinationUrl": "https://www.nike.com/air-max",
      "imageUrls": [],
      "videoUrl": "https://video.ftbs6-2.fna.fbcdn.net/...",
      "cardIndex": 0
    }
  ],
  "spend": { "min": 1000, "max": 5000 },
  "impressions": { "min": 100000, "max": 500000 },
  "estimatedAudienceSize": { "min": 1000000, "max": 2000000 },
  "demographicDistribution": null,
  "euTotalReach": null,
  "targetAges": null,
  "targetGender": null,
  "targetLocations": null,
  "bylines": null,
  "fundingEntity": null,
  "snapshotUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?id=1234567890",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-04-04T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Field reference

Field	Type	Notes
adArchiveId	string	Unique Meta ad ID
pageName	string	Advertiser page name
adActiveStatus	string	ACTIVE or INACTIVE
daysRunning	integer	Days since ad delivery start — key profitability signal. For an ad still active this counts to today, because Meta's end date can sit in the past on an ad it also reports as active
publisherPlatforms	string[]	e.g. ["facebook", "instagram", "messenger", "threads"]
mediaType	string	VIDEO, IMAGE, or NONE — what media the ad carries. Carousel and catalog cards carry their own images, so those ads report IMAGE. For layout, use displayFormat
cardCount	integer	How many cards this ad has — the length of creatives. Note a DCO ad uses cards for copy variants, so displayFormat is the reliable carousel test
displayFormat	string	How Meta classifies the layout: DPA (catalog), CAROUSEL, DCO, IMAGE, VIDEO
categories	string[]	Categories Meta files the ad under, e.g. ["EMPLOYMENT"]. Tells you whether the Ad Category filter was actually applied
containsDigitalCreatedMedia	boolean	Meta's disclosure flag for AI-generated creative. false means no flag was recorded, not proof the creative is human-made
totalActiveTime	integer	Seconds Meta reports the ad as active. Excludes paused periods, so it can be lower than daysRunning, which is calendar time
currency	string	Currency of the spend range, when Meta reports one
creativeVariantCount	integer	Meta's size of the group this ad was collated into. Every member of that group is already its own row — not a card count
creatives	object[]	All creative variants; carousel = multiple objects
creatives[].body	string	Ad copy text
creatives[].videoUrl	string	Direct CDN video URL (fbcdn.net). Player-internal blob: handles are not reported — they are not downloadable files
creatives[].imageUrls	string[]	Direct CDN image URLs (fbcdn.net). Carousel and catalog cards each carry their own image. Duplicates are removed
creatives[].destinationUrl	string	Landing page URL — from GraphQL when available, or via resolveSnapshotUrls
snapshotImageUrls	string[]	For multi-card ads with resolveSnapshotUrls: images found on the ad's page, in page order. A carousel lazy-loads, so this is what was rendered, not necessarily every card
snapshotVideoUrls	string[]	Same, for video files
spend	object	{min, max} in USD — see availability note below
impressions	object	{min, max} — see availability note below
estimatedAudienceSize	object	{min, max} potential reach
demographicDistribution	object	Age/gender breakdown. Not available: Meta does not include it in search results, only on the ad's own page — see the note below
fundingEntity	string	Who paid for the ad — the "Paid for by" byline (political ads only)
disclaimerLabel	string	Which disclaimer Meta attached, e.g. PAID_FOR_BY
pageLikeCount	integer	How many people follow the advertiser page
pageCategories	string[]	Categories the advertiser page lists itself under
bylines	string	The "Paid for by" disclaimer (political ads only)
targetLocations	string[]	ISO country codes Meta reports the ad was targeted at or reached (political ads only)

What Meta does not publish in search results. demographicDistribution, euTotalReach, targetAges, targetGender and targetLocations are absent from the Ads Library search response — checked on both commercial and political ads. They stay null here. Spend, impressions, estimated audience size, the funding byline and the disclaimer label all come through and are filled for political and issue ads.

On the Ad Category filter: Meta does not always apply it. Asking for political ads in Germany returned ordinary commercial ads. The run log lists the categories Meta actually labelled each batch with, and every record carries its own categories field — check it before relying on the filter.

Spend & impressions availability

Ad type	spend & impressions
US / global commercial ads (Nike, Adidas, etc.)	null — Meta policy, not a scraper bug
EU/UK commercial ads	Available for some ad categories under DSA
Political, issue, housing, employment, financial ads	✅ Returned as {min, max} objects

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🎯 Use cases

Competitor ad intelligence Find which creatives your competitors have kept running for 60, 90, 120+ days. Long-running = profitable. Build a swipe file of proven winners, not guesses.

Agency client reporting Bulk-export all active ads for a brand across every country and platform. Export to CSV, Google Sheets, or push straight into your reporting dashboard via Apify API.

Creative benchmarking What CTAs dominate your category? Which formats (video vs. image vs. carousel) are brands investing in? What copy angles are getting budget behind them?

Political ad monitoring EU/UK DSA transparency data: spend ranges, estimated reach, demographic targeting, and funding entity — all structured and ready for analysis.

Market research & trend tracking Run the same search weekly to track how competitors shift their messaging, seasonal spend, and creative strategy over time.

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💰 Pricing

From $15.00 / 1,000 ads — no monthly fees, pay only for what you scrape.

Mode	What you get	~Total cost per 1,000 ads
Standard	All fields — copy, video URLs, image URLs, spend, all carousel cards	~$15
resolveSnapshotUrls: true	Everything above + confirmed landing page URL for each ad	~$16–17

resolveSnapshotUrls mode visits an extra page per ad (~5 sec each), which adds some Apify platform compute time on top of the base price. No monthly fees — pay only for what you scrape.

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🆕 What's new

2026-08-22

• Carousel and catalog ads now return every card's image. They previously came back with none — the images were in Meta's response all along, under a key the parser was not reading.
• impressions, estimatedAudienceSize, fundingEntity, bylines and currency are now filled for political and issue ads. They were always empty because Meta sends them under different key names than the ones being read.
• creativeVariantCount reports the real number. It used to say 1 on every ad.
• daysRunning no longer understates ads that are still running. Meta sometimes reports an end date in the past on an ad it also reports as active; the count now runs to today.
• A search with no matching ads finishes successfully with a NO_RESULTS marker. It used to fail the whole run — Meta serves an identical page whether a search is empty or the connection is being throttled, so the Actor now settles the question with a control query.
• If Meta refuses one connection, the run switches to a backup automatically and only fails when every connection is refused — loudly, and without writing billable rows for data it never got.
• New fields: cardCount, displayFormat (DPA / CAROUSEL / DCO / IMAGE / VIDEO), categories, disclaimerLabel, pageLikeCount, pageCategories, totalActiveTime, containsDigitalCreatedMedia.

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⚠️ Limitations

• Spend/impressions are null for US commercial ads. This is Meta's transparency policy — data is only disclosed for political/issue/housing/employment/financial ads and some EU ads under DSA rules.
• Meta does not expose exact spend — only ranges (e.g. $1,000–$5,000).
• resolveSnapshotUrls adds ~5 seconds per ad (one extra page load). For 1,000 ads, budget ~90 minutes of run time.
• Date range filters rely on Meta's own filtering, which may include ads that started before your startDate if they were still active during your range.
• Meta periodically updates their internal page structure. If you notice empty results, open an issue and we'll push an update within 24–48 hours.