Let Meta Spread Your Ad Budget Where It Performs Best

Meta campaigns in Ad Manager now give you a choice of where your budget is controlled. Set one Campaign budget and let Meta spread it across your ad sets automatically, or keep an Ad set budget for each one and stay in charge of every shilling. You can also let Meta move a slice of budget between ad sets that are performing, and change your mind after the campaign is live.

Should I use a campaign budget or an ad set budget?

Use a Campaign budget when you want Meta to decide which ad set deserves the spend, which suits testing several audiences against each other. Use an Ad set budget when each audience has its own fixed allowance you do not want touched, for example one budget for a new product and a separate one for repeat customers.

• Campaign budget sets one budget for the whole campaign and lets Meta distribute it across ad sets automatically.
• Ad set budget lets you define and manage a budget for each ad set individually.

Can I keep ad set budgets and still let Meta optimise?

Yes. When you use Ad set budget, you can switch on "Share up to 20% of your budget with other ad sets". Meta then shifts a portion of the budget between eligible ad sets based on performance, while each ad set budget stays yours to set and adjust.

Which budget and bid options can I choose?

Campaigns support both Daily and Lifetime budgets. For bidding, choose Highest volume to get as many results as your budget allows, or Cost per result goal to aim at a target cost, which is then set on each ad set.

• Daily budget spends a set amount each day.
• Lifetime budget spends a set amount across the whole run.
• When budgeting sits at the ad set level, the budget and its schedule are configured per ad set.

How do I set this up?

Everything is configured in the campaign builder in Ad Manager, and the builder explains each option as you go. If you choose Ad set budget, you finish the setup inside each ad set.

1. Go to Ad Manager and create or edit a Meta campaign.
2. Under Budget, choose Campaign budget or Ad set budget.
3. If you chose Ad set budget, switch on budget sharing if you want it.
4. Set your Daily or Lifetime budget.
5. Select your bid strategy.
6. If you are using Ad set budget, open each ad set to set its budget, schedule and cost per result goal.
7. Review the campaign and publish.

Can I change the budget setup after publishing?

Yes. You can move a live campaign between Campaign budget and Ad set budget, supplying the budgets the relevant ad sets need. Meta may temporarily limit further budget changes straight after an update, and budget sharing availability follows Meta's own eligibility rules, so the exact behaviour depends on how your campaign and ad sets are configured.

You will find these controls under Budget in the Meta campaign builder inside Ad Manager.