Ad glossary
Broad targeting
Running ads with few or no interest and demographic restrictions so the platform's algorithm finds likely buyers on its own.
Broad targeting means giving an ad platform minimal audience restrictions, often just a location, an age range and perhaps a gender if the product is clearly for one group, and relying on the delivery system to find the people most likely to convert. There are no interest stacks or detailed behaviour filters.
Why it became popular
Several shifts pushed advertisers towards broad targeting:
- Meta's delivery system uses conversion signals and engagement data to decide who sees an ad, and it can often find buyers outside the interests an advertiser would have picked.
- Privacy changes such as App Tracking Transparency reduced the precision of some targeting options.
- Meta removed a number of detailed targeting options over time and introduced Advantage+ features that expand audiences automatically.
The creative becomes the targeting
When the audience is broad, the ad itself does much of the filtering. A video that speaks directly to new parents, or a hook that names a specific problem, attracts the people it is relevant to. This is why teams running broad campaigns tend to invest heavily in creative testing and in a range of ad angles.
When it may not fit
- Accounts with very little conversion data may give the system too few signals to learn from.
- Niche or highly specialised products sometimes benefit from narrower inputs.
- Very small budgets may not generate enough events to get through the learning phase.
Broad targeting is a starting hypothesis, not a rule. Test it against lookalike audiences or interest-based ad sets in your own account.
Last reviewed Oct 27, 2026