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Competitor ad detail: analyze, create a similar ad and keep notes
The ad detail page shows one competitor ad in full. It holds the creative, its copy, how long it ran and Nexus's analysis. You can also analyse the ad, save it, create a similar ad from it and keep notes.
Problem and intended user
A creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) sees a competitor ad in the library and needs to know why it might work. The message, the offer and the tone sit inside the ad, and a card cannot show them. A media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) asks the same about the audience the ad targets. Without a clear read, each person judges the ad from a first impression, and the lessons stay with whoever noticed them.
Current workflow
Today you open the ad in the public ad library of Meta or Google and zoom in on the creative. You copy the headline and body text into a document. You write down the hook, the offer and the tone by hand. You paste the link into chat and add comments there, or you ask an agency for a teardown.
Prerequisites
- Data. Open an ad from Competitor Library or the Inspiration Library. The ad must belong to a tracked competitor, an Inspiration brand or an industry peer.
- Credits. Analyze and Re-analyze can use credits. See Credits and top-ups.
- Assets. Create similar ad needs an image or carousel ad.
How Nexus works
Nexus collects the creative, the copy and the run dates of each competitor ad from the platform's public ad data. Fixed rules count the days an ad ran. AI writes the analysis. When you run Analyze, it reads the ad and fills the analysis cards and the labels in Creative Taxonomy.
Open the page
Click View details on an ad card in Insights > Competitors > Competitor Library or in the Inspiration Library.
What each kind of ad offers
The page changes with the source of the ad.
| Source | Tabs | Analyze | Create similar ad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor you track | Overview, Notes | Yes | Yes, for image and carousel ads |
| Inspiration brand or industry peer ad that is not from the shared ad catalog | Overview, Notes | No. The page says "Inspiration ads are not analyzed" or "Industry peer ads are not analyzed". | Yes, for image and carousel ads |
| Ad from the shared ad catalog. Its badge can read Competitor, Inspiration or Industry peer. | Overview only | No. The page says "Catalog ads are not analyzed". | No |
The tabs about performance, segment mix, attributed orders, linked products and logs belong to your own ads. See Ad detail.
Analyze or re-analyze an ad
WARNING
An analysis can use credits. When the button shows a credit badge, the badge shows the cost before you click. See Credits and top-ups.
- Open the ad.
- Find Analyze in the page header. If the ad already has an analysis, the button reads Re-analyze. An ad with no analysis also shows Analyze this creative in the Overview.
- If the button shows a credit badge, check the cost.
- Click the button. Confirm if Nexus asks you to. If your balance is too low, Nexus offers a top-up.
- Wait while the button reads Analyzing.... The analysis cards fill in when the run ends.
Re-analyze runs a new analysis of the same ad.
Create a similar ad
Click Create similar ad in the header to open the clone setup for this ad. See Clone an ad.
Save an ad and copy its link
- Save ad keeps the ad. The button then reads Saved. Find saved ads in the Inspiration Library, under Saved ads.
- Copy link copies the address of this ad page and shows "Link copied". Another person on your Nexus account reaches the same ad with it.
Keep notes on an ad
Open the Notes tab. The tab shows a count badge once the ad has notes.
- Type in the box under New note. Click the emoji button to add an emoji.
- Click Post note.
- Click Reply under a note to answer it.
- Open the More options menu on a note to Edit or Delete it. Delete removes the note at once and asks for no confirmation.
Exact output
The page opens with a breadcrumb. It reads Insights > Competitors for a tracked competitor. It reads Inspiration Library for an Inspiration brand or an industry peer. A badge next to the ad name says Competitor, Inspiration or Industry peer. The header holds Analyze or Re-analyze, Create similar ad, Save ad and Copy link.
The Overview tab
A panel on the left shows the creative. Click it to preview or play the media. Below it you find:
- Days Active and Variations.
- Est. Impressions (EU) and Est. Spend (EU), when they exist for the ad.
- Status, First Seen, Last Seen, Advertiser and Format.
- The landing page host. Click it to open the competitor's page in a new tab.
The Overview tab holds these cards:
| Card | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Creative Taxonomy | The labels Nexus gave the ad. You can read them but not change them. |
| Ad Copy | The headline, body text and call to action. |
| Timeline | First Seen, Last Seen (or "Still running") and Days Active. |
| Analysis | Hook, Body & Messaging, Call to Action and Offer. Then Target Audience Signals, Tone & Emotional Triggers, Format Classification and Copywriting Signals. Video ads add Video Details. |
An "Analyzed" line at the end of the analysis tells you how long ago Nexus ran it.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Hook, Body & Messaging and Offer | Decide which ideas to borrow or avoid, then write them into the brief. | creative strategist |
| Days Active and the Timeline | Decide whether the ad deserves a closer look. A long run is a hint, not proof. | creative strategist |
| Target Audience Signals | Compare with your own audiences. Any change to targeting happens outside Nexus, in Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads. | media buyer |
| Create similar ad | Click it to start the Similar Ad Wizard for your own product. | creative strategist |
| The credit badge on Analyze | Decide whether the analysis is worth the credits. | creative strategist |
| Save ad and Copy link | Keep the ad, or send the page to another person on your Nexus account. | creative strategist |
| Notes | Record why the ad matters and answer others in Reply. | creative strategist |
Expected value and measurement
The page can help you read a competitor ad in one place and brief from its analysis.
To check the analysis, read the ad yourself and compare it with Hook, Offer and the Creative Taxonomy labels. Nexus shows no accuracy score for an analysis. To check your own results, open Performance > Ad performance, select By ad, and compare ROAS and CPA for ads you made with Create similar ad against your other ads over the same dates. Performance does not mark these ads, so note which ads you made this way. The effect cannot be isolated. Offer, product and budget change at the same time. For the competitor ad, Nexus shows how long it ran and the estimates above, not its sales or click results.
Limitations and exceptions
What is not supported
- Analyze does not run on Inspiration, industry-peer or catalog ads. AI analysis runs only on competitors whose ads are synced for your store.
- Video ads and text ads show no Create similar ad button. Catalog ads show none either.
- Save ad does not appear for the ads of a competitor you removed from tracking.
Estimates and AI output
Est. Impressions (EU) and Est. Spend (EU) are estimates and show only when they exist for the ad. The analysis and the Creative Taxonomy labels come from AI and can be wrong. A new analysis can read the ad differently.
Messages and failures
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| Creative not yet analyzed | Click Analyze this creative. |
| Analysis failed | Click Retry. |
| Link copied | The link is on your clipboard. |
| Could not copy link | Copy the address from the browser. |
Demo Mode
In Demo Mode, Analyze runs a simulated analysis. Nexus blocks saving an ad and tells you so. Generate stays off on the Similar Ad Wizard. See Demo Mode and sample data.