What is Meta Andromeda?
Andromeda is the part of Meta's ad system that decides which ads are even in the running for each person. Meta calls this step retrieval.
Every time someone opens Facebook or Instagram, there are tens of millions of ads that could show. Andromeda narrows that down to a few thousand. Then Meta's ranking models and the auction pick the one ad that shows up in the feed.
Meta announced Andromeda in December 2024 on its engineering blog. Meta says it improved recall by 6% and ad quality by 8% on the segments it tested.
You can't turn Andromeda on or off. It isn't a setting. It's the engine under every Meta campaign you run. What you control is what you feed it.
How Meta picks the ad someone sees
- Retrieval (Andromeda). Tens of millions of ads get cut to a few thousand that might fit this person.
- Ranking. Meta's models predict how likely this person is to click, watch or buy from each of those ads.
- Auction. Your bid, those predictions and ad quality decide which ad wins the spot.
Here's the part most brands miss. If your ad never makes it past step one, nothing else matters. Not your bid, not your landing page, not your offer.
Why 10 versions of one ad act like one ad
Andromeda matches ads to people by what the ad is: what it shows, what it says and who it speaks to. Ten ads with the same video and ten different headlines look almost the same to it. So they get matched to almost the same people.
That's the trap. You think you're testing 10 ads. Meta sees one idea. All 10 fight over the same pocket of buyers. That pocket gets hit again and again. Frequency goes up, the easy buyers get used up, and your cost per purchase climbs.
You think you're testing 10 ads. Meta sees one idea.
We see this all the time when we audit a new account: a dozen "new" ads, one concept, and a CAC that keeps creeping up no matter how the budget gets moved around.
What creative diversity actually means
Creative diversity isn't more ads. It's more different ads. Each concept should reach a new kind of buyer for a new reason.
| Looks new to you (Meta sees one ad) | Looks new to Meta (new buyers) |
|---|---|
| Same video with 5 new headlines | A creator testimonial and an AI animation explainer |
| Same static in 4 colors | A comparison chart static and a founder story video |
| Same hook with new music | A new hook written for a different customer |
| Same creator in a new outfit | Three creators who match three different customers |
Five ways to make a concept new:
- Angle. The reason to buy. Saves money, saves time, fixes a problem, feels good, looks good.
- Persona. Who it's for. A new mom and a marathon runner need different ads for the same product.
- Format. Creator UGC, statics, AI animation, founder videos, memes, comparison charts.
- Hook. The first three seconds. A new hook can open up a new audience on its own.
- Awareness. Some people don't know they have the problem yet. Some are comparing brands. Talk to both.
A simple monthly plan
At BNGR we ship 25+ new concepts a month for a brand. Not 25 tweaks. 25 ideas. If you're doing this in house, here's a starting mix:
- New angles: 5 to 8 reasons to buy you've never run.
- New personas: 3 to 5 ads for customer types you're not talking to yet.
- New formats: at least 2 formats you don't run today, like AI animation or a founder story.
- Winner remixes: take your best ad and rebuild it in a new format with a new hook.
Then cut what doesn't spend and make more of what does. Every month, your best ads should tell you what to make next.
How to tell it's working
- New-customer CAC drops or holds as you raise spend.
- Spend spreads out. More than one or two ads get real budget.
- Frequency stays sane on your biggest ad sets.
- New winners keep showing up each month, instead of one old ad carrying the whole account.
The bottom line
Meta is better than ever at finding buyers. But it can only find them through your ads. Give it one idea and it finds one group of people. Give it 25 different ideas and it has 25 ways in. That's how creative diversity lowers CAC.
