Facebook has added a few new elements to its Ad Library listings in order to provide more transparency over the displayed ads, and make it easier to find relevant info in the app.

As shared by Facebook Integrity Team Lead Rob Leathern, Ad Library listings will now include a new “potential reach” measure, which represents “an estimate of the size of the audience that is eligible to see an ad”.

Up till now, you could somewhat estimate this manually based on ad spend and audience targeting, but the new listings will make it easier to sort ads based on their potential influence, and get a better understanding of each campaign.

Facebook will also now group similar ads together within the Library, making it easier to find related ad content, while it’s also added more filters to better enable ad searches. Leathern highlights the capacity to ‘Search by IG Handle’ as a key addition on this front.

Facebook’s Ad Library is a valuable tool, providing a heap of insight into the campaigns being run, and by whom, across Facebook and Instagram. And while the obvious focus is on political ads, and providing transparency on candidate spend, it’s also great for studying effective ad approaches more broadly, helping to refine your own Facebook marketing approach.

And it’s going to get a real test this year, with the 2020 US Presidential Election. In this respect, it’s important for Facebook to roll out any updates and changes like this now to get ahead of the rush – as people will be judging not only the candidates, but Facebook itself, based on the data available through the tool.

You can check out the new updates in Facebook’s Ad Library here.