If you’ve noticed your Meta ads person pulling their hair out recently it’s probably because Meta has completely changed how it chooses and displays ads, in a big way. The rollout of Meta Andromeda (which actually started back in 2023, but has really now started to make an impact) is one of the biggest changes
If you’ve noticed your Meta ads person pulling their hair out recently it’s probably because Meta has completely changed how it chooses and displays ads, in a big way.
The rollout of Meta Andromeda (which actually started back in 2023, but has really now started to make an impact) is one of the biggest changes we’ve seen to how campaigns will run for a long time.
Andromeda is Meta’s AI system that has changed how Meta chooses ads from an audience-first system, to one that focuses more on creative relevance.
Instead of using strict audience segments and demographics like interests or location, Meta looks at real-time audience intent, finds which creative best matches that intent, and chooses the most relevant ad to show.
If you’re seeing performance problems, it’s probably because your creatives aren’t matching intent.
The biggest change is that targeting and performance are more closely linked to creative variety, not manual targeting.
Before Andromeda you probably focused more on manual controls to influence how ads were delivered. This came down to targeting choices and campaign structure.
Meta now uses AI earlier in the process to filter out ads based on how suitable they appear based on real-time signals.
For marketers it means less focus on narrow segments, and more on creating broader, diverse and simplified creative.
Before this change, narrowly targeted ads might deliver results because Meta was dealing with much smaller pools of creative.
Today any ads that only fit a narrow definition can struggle to be considered at all, where broader and clearer ad creative has a better chance of being shortlisted and displayed.
Andromeda completely changes how you need to think about campaigns because you’re now competing to get your ad creative into Meta’s shortlist, not just to win an auction.
It’s going to put more emphasis on creating more, simpler creatives and less time looking at the “final stage” of delivery, like bids and budgets.
One issue is that it creates problems earlier in the process. If your ads aren’t being shortlisted, they’re not going to be shown no matter how targeted you are.
Consider this:
With Andromeda, advertiser A gives Meta more chances to match your creatives to different audiences, so their ads will get shortlisted and shown more often.
Advertiser B gives themselves fewer chances to get shortlisted.
Meta now rewards advertisers who give its Andromeda AI system more creative options to work with.
Because Andromeda filters ads early, it means Meta needs more creatives to work with to match to different people, placements and moments.
Marketers who focus on creative, and provide more variety and signals make things easier for Meta, so have a better chance of being shortlisted.
That’s not to say you should now rush out and upload masses of random ads. It’s about creating a broader variety of ad creative and letting Meta’s AI learn as it goes.
For example you should create six creatives that explain the same product from different angles (price, problem, use case).
Meta itself has said this is part of a move towards systems that learn across behaviours and placements, rather than relying on manual inputs.
In this new system creative quality and signals affect whether ads are considered at all, not just how they perform once live.
The move towards creative-first means heavy manual controls matter less than before, and being too controlling can actually hurt your campaign performance.
When you tightly segment your audience, or split accounts into smaller parts, you limit the flexibility Meta’s AI has to learn.
It also means frequently changing accounts and campaigns can interrupt the system’s learning. When setups are constantly changed Meta will struggle to understand where your ads fit best.
Say one account runs 10 campaigns with smaller audiences and constantly adds manual changes to “improve” targeting.
Another runs fewer campaigns with broader reach and varied creative, and leaves Meta’s AI to learn and improve.
In this new system of creative-led automation, the second account is more likely to succeed.
Instead of trying to over-control your Meta accounts, you should now focus on feeding Meta with better creative and inputs.
From a practical perspective this means:
Andromeda isn’t just an update, it’s a complete shift to how Meta ads work, requiring a mindset shift from marketers about what’s important.
Without enough focus on creativity, you reduce your chances of having your ads shortlisted, and if that happens, no amount of optimisation will help later on.
Clear inputs, creative variety and simple campaign structures now increase your chances of success.
If you need help getting better results from your Meta Ads, our team of Meta advertising experts can help.
Get in touch for a free strategy session and we’ll show you how to deal with the Andromeda update to get a better return on your Meta investment.
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