Competitor Ads Watch

1. Purpose

Every other skill looks inward. This one looks outward: what are competitors testing this week? The goal isn't to copy — it's to catch when an angle is hot in the market, when a competitor is doubling down on a format, or when a pattern your account hasn't tried is suddenly everywhere.

Run weekly (Mon is typical) for most accounts; daily for tight competitive races.

2. Tracked Competitors

Expects a list of competitor brands/domains maintained by the user. For each, pull from the Meta Ad Library:

• Active ads currently running, with estimated run duration.
• New ads this period — launched since the previous run.
• Paused ads since last run — creative‑attrition signal.

Minimum viable list: 5–10 competitors. Tracking more dilutes signal — dedup to the closest functional competitors.

3. Per‑Ad Tagging

Apply the same axes as creative-brief so patterns map 1:1 across inward and outward skills:

| Axis                     | Source                                                                  |
| :----------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Hook type**            | Inferred from primary text (question, stat, story, testimonial, problem, command) |
| **Visual format**        | Inferred from first frame (notes‑app, UGC, chart, product shot, text‑on‑photo, before/after) |
| **Mood**                 | Inferred from visual treatment                                          |
| **Angle / Horseman**     | Inferred from message (💰 · ⏱ · 👑 · ⚠️)                                  |
| **Funnel stage guess**   | CTA + landing page type (Learn More → ToFu; Free Trial → BoFu)          |
| **Duration (days live)** | From Ad Library metadata                                                |
| **Placement mix**        | Feed · Stories · Reels (as reported by Meta)                            |

4. Change Detection

Compare this week's scan to last week's. Surface signal only, not the full inventory:

| Signal                      | Trigger                                                                           |
| :-------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **New angle**               | Competitor launched ≥ 3 ads in a Horseman they weren't using 30 days ago          |
| **Format doubling‑down**    | ≥ 5 new ads in the same visual format from one competitor this week               |
| **Long‑running winner**     | A competitor ad has been live > 30 days — likely profitable, worth studying       |
| **Mass pause**              | Competitor paused > 5 ads at once — campaign end or failed batch                  |
| **Market pattern**          | ≥ 3 different competitors running the same (format, angle) pair this week         |

5. Gap Analysis (vs. your account)

Compare the competitor mix against the account's own creative pattern library:

• Angle gaps — Horsemen competitors use that your account doesn't.
• Format gaps — visual formats common in the set but absent from your account.
• Velocity gap — competitors shipping ≥ 10 new creatives/week while your account ships 2 = a creative‑pipeline bottleneck.

6. Operational Output: Weekly Competitor Report

Competitor Ads Watch — Week of Apr 20 · 7 competitors tracked · 42 new ads detected

🔔 Market Pattern — emerging

• Format: "AI calculator / ROI widget" — 4 of 7 competitors launched this format this week (3 of them hadn't used it before). Angle: 💰 Money. Action: brief an equivalent via creative-brief.

🚀 Long‑running winners — study these

• AcmeCo — AD_abc123 · live 47 days · Notes‑app + ⏱ Time + Professional · CTA: Book Demo
• Rival Inc — AD_xyz456 · live 38 days · UGC + 💰 Money + Casual · CTA: Learn More

📈 Doubling down

• AcmeCo — launched 7 new ads this week, all in the "Split‑screen before/after" format. Angle mix: 5× 💰 Money, 2× 👑 Status. Signal: they've found something worth testing.

🆕 New angles by competitor

• BetaBrand — first time using ⚠️ Fear (3 new ads). Shift from their usual 💰 Money mix.
• GammaCorp — pivoted to UGC‑only this week; paused all polished studio ads.

⚠️ Mass pause

• DeltaLabs paused 11 ads on Apr 18 — likely end of a seasonal push or a failed batch.

🕳 Gap vs. your account

• Competitors running ⚠️ Fear: 6 of 7. Your account: 0. → Brief a fear‑framed variant via creative-brief.
• "AI calculator" format (see Market Pattern): 4 competitors. Your account: 0.
• Velocity gap: tracked set shipped 42 new ads this week · your account shipped 3. Expand the creative pipeline or accept less test‑variance than the market.