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Competitors: see what other brands advertise
The Competitors area shows you the public ads of other brands. Open it from Insights > Competitors.
Every other tab in Insights reads your own store. This area reads somebody else's advertising. Nothing here publishes an ad or reaches a customer.
Problem and intended user
This area is for the creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) and the media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads). The ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store) uses it to see how the market talks to the same shoppers.
The problem arises when you plan new ads or a new offer and you cannot see what rival brands run. You then guess which angles and offers the market uses. That can lead you to copy the obvious or to repeat what every other brand already says.
Current workflow
Many merchants watch competitors by hand. They open the public ad libraries that the ad platforms publish, look brand by brand, and save screenshots. They write the angles and offers into a spreadsheet, or they ask an agency for a competitor report. Each person who reads the ads labels them in their own way, so two people can label the same ad differently.
Prerequisites
You need an installed store. Nothing else is required to open the area.
- Competitor Library opens at once, with no ad data.
- Creative Radar needs analysed ads. They come from a tracked competitor or from your connected ad account. Until they arrive, it shows the panel Connect a platform to unlock this view or Nothing here yet. After that it shows one empty card for each chart, such as No angle × creative direction data yet.
- Competitor Synthesis needs analysed ads from tracked competitors. Your own ads do not feed it. Until they arrive, it shows the panel Connect a platform to unlock this view or Nothing here yet. After that it shows No competitor synthesis yet with an Add competitors link.
- You choose which brands to watch on Track competitors.
How Nexus works
Nexus collects the public ads of the advertisers you pick. Nexus then uses AI to read each collected ad and label it. Fixed rules count and group the labels into the views on the tabs. AI also writes a short summary on Creative Radar and a paragraph on Competitor Synthesis.
Nexus collects ads only for brands you add. Nothing here needs an approval, and nothing changes your ad accounts.
How the data gets here
The three tabs share one pipeline.
- You add a competitor. You pick its Meta page or Google advertiser.
- Nexus collects the live ads of that advertiser.
- Nexus analyses the ads it collects. It labels the Primary Angle, Hook Tactic, Offer Framing, Visual Format and Objection Addressed. Nexus calls an analysed ad Decomposed.
- Creative Radar and Competitor Synthesis are built from the analysed ads.
An ad that is collected but not yet analysed shows in the Competitor Library without labels. It does not count in Creative Radar or Competitor Synthesis.
Limits
Sync Ads and Refresh Ads do not use your credits, but limits apply to how many new competitor ads Nexus analyses. Ads over the limit stay without labels until the limit frees up. The Not decomposed filter shows them. It appears only while some ads wait for analysis. See Track competitors for the details, and the Billing page for the limits.
Platform filter and date range
Two controls are shared across the tabs.
- Platform filter. A row of buttons reads All Platforms, Google, Meta and TikTok. It shows on Competitor Library and Creative Radar. Choose one to show only that platform. TikTok shows as Coming soon.
- Date range. The date range sits in the page header. The Competitor Library uses it in its result line, for example "ads active between" two dates.
Creative Radar adds a D, W and M switch. It appears on that tab only.
Exact output
A tab strip sits under the Insights menu. Competitor Library opens first.
| Tab | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Competitor Library | What ads do the competitors I track run right now? |
| Creative Radar | Which angles, hooks and offers do competitors use, and how does that change over time? |
| Competitor Synthesis | What does Nexus conclude about the market from all analysed competitor ads? |
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| A competitor's live ads in Competitor Library | Check which offers and formats rivals run before you plan your next creative. | creative strategist |
| An ad you want to keep | Click Save ad to keep it in Saved ads in the Inspiration Library as a reference for your next creative. | creative strategist |
| A trend in angles, hooks and offers in Creative Radar | Pick an angle to test or an angle to avoid. The test itself runs outside this area. | creative strategist |
| A platform or format gap in Creative Radar | Decide where to run an angle. You do this in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads. | media buyer |
| A market conclusion in Competitor Synthesis | Use it to set the direction of a campaign or an offer. | ecommerce manager |
| An untried concept in Competitor Synthesis | Click Add to testing roadmap to send it to your testing backlog. | creative strategist |
| No competitors tracked yet | Click Add competitor or Suggest with AI. See Track competitors. | ecommerce manager |
Any action on a competitor's ad happens outside Nexus. Nexus does not copy, publish or buy an ad for you.
Expected value and measurement
This area can help you see which angles and offers rivals use, and it can help you spot a gap in the market. It does not change your ad results by itself.
To check whether it helps, open Performance > Ad performance. In the What's working table, compare ROAS and CPA for ads you made after you used this research with earlier ads. The three tabs each have their own check. Open the one you used and read its Expected value and measurement section. Other changes often run at the same time, such as a new offer, a new budget or a season. When they do, you cannot isolate the effect of this research.
Limitations and exceptions
- Public ads only. The area reads the public Meta and Google ads of other brands. It shows what they run, not how well it works for them.
- AI labels can be wrong. Nexus uses AI to label each ad. Read the ad itself before you act on a label.
- Analysis lag. An ad that is collected but not yet analysed shows without labels and does not count in Creative Radar or Competitor Synthesis.
What a new store sees first
You have no competitors on day one.
- Competitor Library shows "No competitors tracked yet" and two buttons: Add competitor and Suggest with AI.
- Creative Radar waits for analysed ads from a tracked competitor or from your connected ad account. Until they arrive, it shows Connect a platform to unlock this view or Nothing here yet. Then it shows one empty card for each chart, such as No angle × creative direction data yet.
- Competitor Synthesis waits for analysed ads from a tracked competitor. Until they arrive, it shows the same panel as Creative Radar. After that it shows No competitor synthesis yet with an Add competitors link. It shows this even when your ad account is connected, because only tracked competitors feed it.
Demo Mode
In Demo Mode, the tabs show a seeded set of competitors. Add, remove and suggest controls are hidden. See Demo Mode and sample data.