Meta Ads After Andromeda: What Changed and How to Adapt

Meta rolled out Andromeda in 2023, and it fundamentally changed how their ad delivery system works. If your Meta Ads strategy has not evolved since then, you are leaving money on the table. Here is what actually changed, why it matters, and what you need to do about it.

What Andromeda Actually Is

Andromeda is Meta's upgraded ad retrieval system. Before Andromeda, Meta's system would pull from a relatively small pool of ads when deciding what to show a user. Andromeda expanded that pool by orders of magnitude. Where the old system might evaluate a few hundred ads for each impression, Andromeda evaluates tens of thousands.

The practical impact is that Meta's algorithm got significantly better at matching ads to users. It no longer needs narrow audience targeting to find the right people, because it can evaluate far more options in real time.

What This Means for Advertisers

Three big shifts happened as a result of Andromeda.

1. Targeting matters less, creative matters more

Before Andromeda, media buyers spent most of their time building audience segments, testing lookalikes, and refining targeting parameters. That work is now less impactful. Meta's algorithm is better at finding the right people than you are at defining them.

The lever that still matters is creative. The algorithm can find the right audience, but it can only deliver the ads you give it. If your creative does not stop the scroll and drive action, no amount of algorithmic sophistication will save you.

This is why we see broad targeting outperforming detailed interest-based targeting for most DTC brands. The algorithm works better with fewer constraints and more creative options to test.

2. Creative volume and variety are now competitive advantages

With Andromeda evaluating more ads per impression, the brands that give the algorithm more options tend to perform better. This does not mean producing more ads for the sake of it. It means running a systematic creative testing program that consistently feeds new concepts into the system.

The brands winning on Meta in 2026 are testing 10 to 20 new creative concepts per week, not 2 to 3. They are testing hooks, angles, formats, and CTAs independently so they can compound learning over time. They are killing underperformers fast and scaling winners aggressively.

3. Campaign structure should be simpler

The complex campaign structures that worked before Andromeda (separate campaigns for prospecting, retargeting, lookalikes, interest stacks) are now mostly counterproductive. They fragment your audience data and prevent the algorithm from optimizing across your full potential customer base.

Simpler structures with broader targeting and more creative variation tend to outperform complex structures with narrow targeting and fewer creative options.

How to Adapt Your Strategy

Here is what we recommend for DTC brands spending $10K or more per month on Meta Ads.

Simplify your campaign structure

Consolidate to fewer campaigns with broader targeting. For most brands, that means one or two prospecting campaigns with broad targeting and one retargeting campaign. Let the algorithm do the audience finding. Focus your energy on giving it better creative to work with.

Build a creative testing framework

This is the most important change you can make. Stop launching creative based on gut feeling and start running a systematic testing program.

Here is the framework we use at Blue Water Marketing:

Step 1: Analyze what is working. Look at your top-performing ads from the last 90 days. What hooks are they using? What angles? What formats? Identify the patterns.

Step 2: Generate hypotheses. Based on those patterns, brainstorm new concepts that test different variables. New hooks with proven angles. Proven hooks with new angles. New formats with proven messaging.

Step 3: Test with minimum viable creative. Do not invest in full production for every concept. Test with lo-fi versions first. Static images, simple UGC, text overlays. If the concept works in lo-fi, invest in higher production.

Step 4: Measure the right metrics. Hook rate (percentage of people who watch past 3 seconds), hold rate (percentage who watch to completion), and click-through rate are your leading indicators. ROAS is a lagging indicator. Do not kill creative based on ROAS alone in the first 48 hours.

Step 5: Scale winners, kill losers, iterate. When you find a winner, scale it. When something underperforms, kill it and analyze why. Use what you learn to inform the next round of testing.

Invest in hook rate analysis

The first 3 seconds of a video ad or the first visual impression of a static ad determine whether someone engages. We call this the hook. Analyzing hook rates across your creative library reveals patterns that inform everything else.

High hook rate + low conversion usually means your hook is strong but your angle or offer is off. Low hook rate + no data usually means you need to test new opening concepts. High hook rate + high conversion is a winner you should scale immediately.

Track the metrics that matter

Platform-reported ROAS is useful but insufficient. You need to connect ad performance to actual business outcomes. That means tracking true customer acquisition cost (all-in, not just ad spend), contribution margin by campaign, and new customer vs. returning customer performance.

This is where Financial Precision comes in. Without real P&L data connected to your ad performance, you are flying blind.

The Bottom Line

Andromeda made Meta's algorithm smarter, which means the game has shifted from "who can target better" to "who can produce better creative, faster." The brands that adapt to this reality will thrive. The ones that keep optimizing audiences and ignoring creative will fall behind.

If you want help adapting your Meta Ads strategy to the post-Andromeda landscape, get a free audit and we will show you exactly where the opportunities are.