To check how long a Facebook ad has been running, paste its Ad Library link or ad id and press Check run time. You get the start date, how long ago that was, and the days we saw the ad active in our library. Where we can match its image, you see at least how many other ads reuse it.
This page reads one ad from the ads we have collected. It does not query Meta live.
[ What you get ]
A start date, the days we saw it in rotation, and how often the image is reused
You get three facts about one ad: when it started, how many days we saw it running, and how many other ads carry its image. Meta Ad Library shows the start date and leaves the arithmetic to you; this page does the arithmetic.
What comes out:
- The start date. When the ad started and how long ago that was, plus the date it entered our library. The two dates differ when the ad was running before we reached it.
- Days we saw it in rotation. How many days the ad was active in our library, with a badge saying whether it was still active the last time we checked. Where there is no count, the card says so instead of showing a zero.
- Image reuse, as a floor. How many other ads carry the same image, and on how many pages. Only ads whose image we could match are counted, so the line says “at least”.
Run time is not a performance figure. It shows that the advertiser kept the ad on, which is not proof that it works: an ad bought on a cost cap can stay on by itself.
[ How to use it ]
Facebook ad run time checker: three steps
Copy the ad link
In Meta Ad Library, find the ad and copy its link, or just the number after “Library ID:” on its card.
Press Check run time
Paste it and press Check run time. Your first lookup is free, no sign-up; after that, your email unlocks one more.
Read the dates
You get the start date, the days we saw the ad running and, where the image matches, the reuse line.
An ad that ran before it reached our library is older than its day count; the start date shows its real age.
[ Limits ]
Free version limits
Your first lookup is free, no sign-up. Leave your email for one more, then create a free Spytrend account: it opens this search in the full ad library, and paid plans add fresh ads and every filter.
One lookup reads one ad from our library, and the result stays on this page.
[ Why marketers use it ]
Tell a long-running ad from a fresh test — before you build on either
Every creative in a competitor’s library looks equally confident. Run time separates them: an ad still up months after launch is one the advertiser keeps paying for, and one that appeared last week is still a test. Build on the test and you inherit an experiment instead of a result.
A media buyer about to rework a competitor’s angle checks the run time first, because the safest creative to learn from is the one that has lasted longest.
An affiliate reads the reuse line instead. The same image on several pages usually means a network pushing one offer, not a single advertiser.
One ad is one data point; the read you want is every creative an advertiser runs, sorted by how long it lasted. In Spytrend run time sits on every ad, so that sort is one click.
[ Go further with Spytrend ]
Every creative an advertiser runs, sorted by how long it lasted
This tool reads one ad at a time.
Spytrend is an ad intelligence platform for Facebook and TikTok advertising: a full five-year archive of ads, AI-classified into 33 business categories, with every advertiser assembled into a single card — all ads, pages, domains and countries in one place. Run time sits on every ad in it.
Two jobs where one ad is not enough
- Picking which creative to build on. Sorted by run time, an advertiser’s ads rank themselves: the ones at the top lasted months, the ones at the bottom were switched off early. One lookup cannot show you that order.
- Seeing how far one image travels. On the card, the pages running the same image sit together with their domains and countries, so a network reads as one shape instead of a string of lookups.
What you can see next to a creative
- The whole library by run time. Every ad the advertiser runs, lined up by days running, longest first.
- Re-uploads, not just age. How often the same creative was uploaded again as a new ad. Each re-upload is the advertiser choosing to pay for it again, a harder signal than a start date.
From one ad to the whole library, in three steps
- Open the page behind the ad. Its card lists every ad the page runs, not just the one you pasted.
- Sort by run time. Ads that ran for months rise to the top; the ones switched off within a week drop to the bottom.
- Hold this ad up against the top five. If it is among them, the advertiser keeps paying for it. If not, the ones above it are the stronger bet.
Why the advertiser, not the ad
One ad is one data point. The read you want is the spread: how many of an advertiser’s creatives run for months, which angles they share and in which countries. Spytrend records how long every ad ran, so that spread is a sort order, not a day of pasting links.
How to start
Create a free account, search a brand or a domain you already know and sort its ads by run time. The free account opens the ad library; paid plans add fresh ads and every filter.