Datadory notebook
Meta Ads Api Insights Breakdown Data: Dataset Structure and Field Coverage
Datadory delivers meta ads api insights breakdown data covering comprehensive field definitions, entity mappings, and historical time series — structured for direct analytics and delivered on demand.
1,744 datasets. Pick your catch.
What fields does the Meta Ads insights endpoint return?
Every call to the insights edge returns a metrics block per object. The core delivery metrics are impressions, reach, clicks, spend, frequency, cost_per_action_type and actions; video objects add playback metrics, and conversion tracking adds action values you can join back to your own revenue data.
The dimension side is where the breakdown keyword earns its name. One request can split any of those metrics by publisher_platform, platform_position, age, gender, country, region or impression_device, so a single campaign-level pull can answer "how does this ad perform on Instagram placements versus Facebook Feed for women 25-34 in Germany?" without a second integration.
How do I pull a breakdown by publisher platform, demographics or geography?
A practical walkthrough, using only what the API documents:
1. Create a developer app and accept Meta Platform Terms and Developer Policies. Access to the API itself is free - you pay only for advertising you buy.
2. Authenticate over OAuth against the ad account you own. For advanced access to ads_read or ads_management on other parties' accounts, submit App Review; business verification applies when handling sensitive data.
3. Choose the object level. Point the insights edge at an ad account, campaign, ad set or ad depending on whether the question is budget-level or creative-level.
4. Set the date range with time_range, or use date_preset=maximum to sweep the full 37-month history. Pick the slice with time_increment - daily for pacing checks, monthly for board decks.
5. Add breakdowns by publisher_platform, platform_position, age, gender, country, region, impression_device or product_id. Each additional dimension multiplies rows returned, so batch questions rather than issuing one call per combination.
6. Store the JSON yourself. Responses arrive near-realtime while campaigns run; keeping them is what converts a live feed into an auditable archive, because Meta's terms bar redistributing the rows anywhere else.
How does Meta's insights compare with Google, TikTok and X?
Four platform APIs appear in the advertising catalog and they divide cleanly along two axes: how deep history goes and how finely time is sliced.
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How far back does Meta Ads reporting go?
Up to 37 months with date_preset=maximum, sliced daily to monthly via time_range and time_increment. That is the longest look-back among the four platform APIs in Datadory's advertising catalog: Google Ads API windows are set per query, TikTok offers selectable windows including lifetime queries, and X analytics run 7 days synchronously or 90 days asynchronously.
Can I see competitors' Facebook ads performance through the API?
No. Meta insights are bounded by each advertiser's own campaign history and cannot report on other advertisers' objects. For rival creative intelligence use public archives instead: the Google Ads Transparency Center lists advertiser identity with spend and impression ranges, and TikTok Creative Center - Top Ads ranks ads by reach or click-through rate, free and without an account.