Meta ads are entering one of the biggest transitions I’ve seen in years, and it’s reshaping how brands win on the platform. What worked six months ago is already fading. 

At The Moonlighters we manage roughly 4 million in ad spend a month across 80 brands and I’ve had a front-row seat to these shifts as they’ve started taking shape. The landscape is moving fast, but it’s also leveled the playing field. Right now anyone can win if they move quickly. 

Here are the seven biggest shifts I’m seeing that will define the next year. 

1. Complexity Returns 

For the last few years, Meta pushed simplicity. Broad targeting, Advantage+ campaigns, and minimal segmentation became the default. That era is ending. 

Advantage+ Smart Campaigns are being merged back into the manual builder, which is quietly opening the door for more control again. The best-performing accounts are moving away from a single broad setup and building swim lanes with prospecting, retargeting, retention, and scale campaigns. Inside prospecting, creatives are launched in “packs,” and only proven winners graduate into interest groups. It’s a hybrid structure that gives you control without forcing wasted spend. 

2. Creative Diversification 

There’s no single winning format anymore. In the past, you could ride one viral video to scale. Today, the strongest accounts are running a wide mix of Reels, Stories, Feeds, carousels, static images, and long-form content. 

It comes down to consumer behavior. One person might spend 90% of their time in Reels while another never touches them. If you only build for one surface, you’re leaving massive reach on the table. 

3. Iteration Over Ideation 

The top advertisers aren’t chasing new ideas all day. They’re obsessively iterating on what’s already working. 

Dr. Squatch for example, launched almost 500 ads in two weeks, most of them just variations of a single winning concept. They didn’t wait months to test. They struck while the creative was hot. That’s the key. Take your best performers and spin out dozens of quick iterations that tweak hooks, visuals, or offers. Over time, those iterations compound into new winners. 

4. Organic-First Testing 

Organic content has become the cheapest creative testing ground we have. 

Post as often as you can, watch what overperforms, and then pull those top posts straight into your ad account. In many cases, you don’t even need to change a thing. It’s the fastest way to test dozens of new ideas without burning through budget. 

5. Fast Scaling 

The old playbook said to increase budgets 10% every few days to avoid “breaking” the algorithm. That’s outdated. 

If your new customer ROAS is solid, you can scale much faster. I’ve doubled ad spend overnight without hurting performance. The key is tracking new audience ROAS through audience segment breakdowns (new vs. engaged vs. existing) and layering in incremental attribution. If the numbers hold, you can push spend aggressively and grow way faster than the old rules allowed. 

6. Broad + Interest Targeting 

Going all broad is no longer enough. 

The strongest accounts are pairing broad targeting with smart interest groups. Each interest acts like a lever, nudging the algorithm to expand the edges of your broad pool. It keeps your audience fresh and helps fight creative fatigue while improving efficiency at the same time. 

7. The Rise of Live Shopping (coming soon) 

Live shopping is coming, and it’s going to hit fast. 

It’s already massive in China and other markets, and we’re starting to see it trickle into feeds here. Think modern-day QVC for Instagram and TikTok. With how skeptical people have become of overly polished UGC, live shopping gives something ads rarely do anymore: authenticity. It shows real products in real time. The brands that figure this out early are going to win big.