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How to connect Facebook Ads

Aggregation, Attribution windows, and more for Facebook Ads (by Meta)

Emma Kallbro Banaszek avatar
Written by Emma Kallbro Banaszek
Updated over a week ago

What permission do I need to connect a Facebook Ads data source in Funnel?

Report Types

Our Facebook connector supports two types of metric sets: "Regular" and "Reach and frequency". Reach and frequency is a set of non-aggregatable metrics, learn more about non-aggregatable metrics in general here.  Information on the dimensions and metrics available for each report type can be found here.

Connecting your ad account

Level

First off you choose your level of granularity. 

For example: 

  • Selecting "Campaign" will only give you campaign level data.

  • Selecting "Campaign, Ad Set, Ad" will give you the ID and name for all your campaigns, ad sets and ads.

  • For "Reach and frequency" sources, you have the option of connecting at account level. Selecting this option will give you account-level data only.

Breakdowns

Breakdowns refer to the breakdown found in the Ads Manager interface.

In some cases you can select several breakdowns. Not all breakdowns are compatible - this is reflected in the dropdown.

Age
View your data by age range. These values are estimated.

Gender
View your data by gender. These values are estimated.

Country
View your data by the country where people live or were located when they saw your ads, depending on how you set your location targeting. These values are estimated.

Region
View your data by the region (such as state or province) where people live or were located when they saw your ads, depending on how you set your location targeting. These values are estimated.

DMA Region
View your data by the designated marketing area (DMA) region where people live or were located when they saw your ads, depending on how you set your location targeting. A DMA region represents a U.S. media market or an area reached by TV, radio, newspaper or other media. If ads were delivered outside the U.S., data will appear in the Non-DMA Region category. These values are estimated.

Impression Device
View your data by the devices people were using when they saw your ads. These values are estimated.

Platform
View your data by platform where your ad was shown (ex: Facebook, Instagram). These values are estimated.

Placement
View your data by placement where your ad was shown (ex: Facebook desktop News Feed, Instagram mobile News Feed). These values are estimated.

Audience Segment

View your data by user segment (ex: new, existing) of Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC). Existing user is specified by the custom audience in ASC settings.

Product ID
View your data by product ID. Product ID data is only available for ads connected to a catalog. These values are estimated.

Post Reaction Type
View your data by the reactions on your ads or boosted posts. The reactions button on an ad allows people to share different reactions on its content: Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. These values are estimated.

Destination
View your data by the URL people went to after clicking on your ad. These values are estimated.

Video View Type
View your data by whether a video view was auto-play or click-to-play. These values are estimated.

Conversion Device
View your data by the devices people were using when they took any actions as a result of your ads. These values are estimated.

Carousel Card
View your data by each card id and name in a carousel ad. These values are estimated. Note: Only available if regular metrics are selected on connect, with no additional field groups. The only non-standard metric available is "Link Clicks".

Device Platform
View your data by the device platform people were using when they saw your ads (ex. Desktop, Mobile App). These values are estimated.

Time of Day (Viewer's Time Zone)
View your data based on time of day (hourly) in the time zone where the ad was viewed. These values are estimated.

Time of Day (Ad Account Time Zone)
View your data based on time of day (hourly) in the ad account's time zone. These values are estimated.

Call To Action (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by call to action. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Call To Action (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Call To Action Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Description (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by link description. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Description Text (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Description Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Headline (Ad Settings)(by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by headline. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Headline Text (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Headline Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Image (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by image. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Image Hash (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Image URL (Dynamic Creative Asset

  • Image Name (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Image Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Text (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by text. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Text (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Text Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Video (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by video. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Video Thumbnail Hash (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Video Thumbnail URL (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Video URL (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Video ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Video Name (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Website URL (by Dynamic Creative Asset)

View your data by website URL. These values are estimated. This breakdown will return the following fields:

  • Website URL (Dynamic Creative Asset)

  • Website URL Asset ID (Dynamic Creative Asset)

Effective statuses

The three dimensions Ad Effective Status, Campaign Effective Status and Ad Set Effective Status will show the status of an Ad, Campaign or Ad Set.

The status of your Ads, Campaigns or Ad sets can be a cause of a perceived data mismatch. Make sure the data you view in the Facebook UI is filtered on the same statuses as in Funnel to avoid any mismatches in your data. 

Incompatible breakdowns & metrics

When selecting a breakdown, make sure it's compatible with your ad account and the metrics you wish to see. 

Product ID only works with Dynamic Product Ads (DPA). If you select it when connecting an account containing some or all non-DPA:s, you will only see a subset of your data.

Video metrics (3 second views excepted) are not compatible with breakdowns Region and DMA Region.

Attribution settings

There are two options for attribution on connecting a Facebook ads source.

Either you select a specific attribution window. Then our connector downloads metrics based on the attribution window settings you selected, for example "1 day click, 7 day view". Or you can connect with the option "Use attribution setting". Then our connector will download data using the attribution setting for each specific Ad/Ad set/Campaign.

Ad Creative settings

Selecting "Ad creative data" in "Additional field groups" will download additional metadata of the Ad Creative. Choosing this option will include some additional dimensions related to Ad Creatives.

All Ad Creative dimensions might not always have values, even if you have opted to include Ad Creative data in your Facebook Ads data source. This is because the content of the fields depend on how your Ad Creative has been set up. As an example: if the ad that you are looking at is a Page Post that was boosted, you should have values for the group of dimensions that have "Boosted Post" in the name, but you should not expect to have values for the group of dimensions that have "Asset" or "Carousel" in the name. Likewise, if you are looking at a dynamic ad you should see values for the group of dimensions that have "Asset" in the name, but not for fields with e.g "Boosted Post" or "Video" in the name.

Getting custom conversions

Check the box for "Actions and conversions" under "Additional field groups" to include any custom conversions available in your account.


Facebook Ads "Reach and frequency"

Reach and frequency is a set of non-aggregatable metrics, click here for more general information about non-aggregatable metrics.

Connecting with "Reach and frequency"

Time window
Available: 1 Day, 7 Day (Weekly), 14 Day, 30 Day, 90 Day, Calendar Month (Monthly) & Lifetime

The time window you select will determine how many days of data each value represents.

If you select lifetime, each value will represent the total up until the date of the data point in question. The last date for which there are available values will be the latest date that there were data to download for an object (Ad, Ad set or Campaign). Due to limitations with the API the total will at most include data for the past 37 months. Read more about this here.
If you select calendar month, each value will represent the total from the first of the month up until the date of the data point in question.

Viewing the data in Funnel 

In the Funnel Data Explorer, you need to select “Date” and the “ID” dimension for the level you selected in the setup, e.g. Ad ID, Ad Set ID or Campaign ID.  

ID or name?

While the name of a Campaign, Ad Set or Ad may be easier to work with, ID has the advantage that it is guaranteed to be unique.

So if you happen to have two Campaigns with the same name and look at your data by Date and Campaign Name only, you won’t see any values for your "Reach and frequency" metrics.

Therefore we recommend that you include both the ID and name of your Campaigns, Ad Sets or Ads, even if name is the dimension you’re interested in.

Examples

I want to see daily frequency of my ads.
Connect a Facebook ads source on Ad level with "1 Day" time window. In the data explorer, select dimensions "Date", "Ad ID", "Ad Name" and the metric "Frequency (1 Day, Ad)".

I want to see the weekly reach of a specific campaign.
Connect your Facebook ads source on Campaign level and with a "7 Day" time window. 

Select dimensions "Date", "Campaign ID", "Campaign Name" (plus any other campaign level dimensions of interest) and the metric "Reach (Weekly, Campaign)". 

Filter on "Reach (Weekly, Campaign)" Greater than "0" and "Campaign Name" = <The name of the campaign you’re interested in>.

 Each row will now show the weekly (the week preceding the date of the row) reach for a campaign.

I want to see the total reach of my ad account.
Connect your Facebook Ads source on account level with a "lifetime" time window. 

In the data explorer, select dimension "Date" and metric "Reach (Account, Lifetime)". 

Select today's date to see the most recent value.

I want to see unique purchases by campaign and calendar month.
Connect your Facebook Ads source on campaign level with a "calendar month" time window. Check the box "Include Unique Actions and Conversions" and select your attribution settings.

In the data explorer, select dimensions "Date", "Campaign ID", "Campaign Name", "Attribution Window" and the metric "Unique Purchases (Campaign, Calendar Month)". 

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