# Discover and save competitor ads

> Search for relevant examples and keep the useful ones organized.

Open **Ad spy → Discovery**. The current screen is called **Discover ads**. Start with a clear research question, such as how other brands explain a feature or answer an objection.

Use the filters available in your workspace to narrow the examples to your research question.

![Filters narrows the Discovery results using the controls available in the current workspace.](https://sellify.ai/images/docs/walkthroughs/ad-spy-filters.webp)

## Watch the walkthrough

Video: [Research competitor ads](https://docs-media.app.sellify.ai/videos/docs/ad-spy-research.concise.mp4)

1. Search Ad spy for relevant creative.
2. Narrow the results with media and detailed filters.
3. Open Details to review the creative, source and dates.
4. Reopen saved references in Saved ads.
5. Organize references into Boards for your next test.

## Search and filter

1. Enter a brand or phrase in **Search keywords or brands**.
2. Choose **All**, **Image** or **Video** for media type.
3. Review the country and active-status selections.
4. Open **Filters** if you need more detail, such as channel, ad format, call to action or start date.
5. Review the sort order and results before narrowing further.

If there are no results, remove filters one at a time and try a broader term. An empty result does not prove that a brand has never advertised.

Before you type anything, Discovery shows a feed of recommended ads with chips for **All**, **Top Brands** and a high-ticket group, which is a reasonable way to browse without a query in mind. The Discovery page also has **Saved ads** and **Following** views; the sidebar's **Saved ads** entry opens the first, and the second is the ad feed from brands you follow (see [Follow brands](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/following-brands)).

## Sort the results

Three options for a search, with **Newest** selected by default. The Following feed adds **Recommended**.

| Sort               | What you get                                                                              |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Newest**         | The most recently launched ads. Good for spotting what a competitor has started testing.  |
| **Top Performers** | Ads with the most impressions. Switch to this when you want widely shown rather than new. |
| **Stars**          | Ads ordered by Sellify's own ad score.                                                    |

## Detailed filters

**Country** and **Status** sit in the toolbar next to the media-type choice. **Country** offers **All countries** plus the major markets and applies to keyword searches; **Status** is **Active ads** or **All statuses**. Out of the box you see active ads from all countries.

**Filters** opens the rest. A count on the button shows how many are active, each applied filter appears as a chip you can remove, and **Clear filters** resets everything.

| Filter                | Options                                                                                             |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Channels**          | **Facebook**, **Instagram**, **Messenger**, **Audience Network**, **Threads**, **WhatsApp**.        |
| **Ad format**         | **Image**, **Video**, **Carousel** or **Dynamic Creative (DCO)**. Shown when media type is **All**. |
| **Call to action**    | The button on the ad, such as **Shop Now**, **Learn More** or **Sign Up**.                          |
| **Hide AI-generated** | A switch that drops ads Sellify has flagged as AI-generated.                                        |
| **Min variations**    | Only ads running at least this many versions.                                                       |
| **Min followers**     | Only brands with at least this many followers.                                                      |
| **Min copy length**   | Only ads whose copy is at least this many characters.                                               |
| **Limit per brand**   | At most this many ads from any one brand.                                                           |
| **Started after**     | Only ads launched after a date.                                                                     |

**Min variations** is the one worth knowing about. Brands run many versions of an ad they believe in, so filtering for ads with several variations is a decent proxy for what they are backing. It is still a research signal, not performance data.

## Save a filter preset

A combination you use often can be kept. Select **Save** in the toolbar to open **Save filter preset** and name it. Once you have some, the button reads **Presets** with a count; from there you can apply one, rename or delete it, and choose **Set as default** so Discovery opens with it.

![Ad details shows source information, creative, copy and a link to its destination.](https://sellify.ai/images/docs/walkthroughs/ad-spy-detail.webp)

## Read an ad

Use **Details** to inspect the creative and the information available for that ad. Check the brand, visible copy and dates. The destination link opens the advertiser's page; treat it as an external source, not a Sellify feature.

Labels such as **Top Performers**, a long run time or several variations are research signals. They are not access to the advertiser's profit, spend or conversion data.

Each card shows the creative, the brand and the period it has been running, such as a start date followed by "Present" for an active ad. The details panel adds rows for **Brand**, **Ad ID**, **Status**, **Active period**, **Platforms**, **Variations**, **Followers**, **Landing page**, **Format** and **Niche**. A note tells you whether the ad came **Live from Meta** or **From our archive**, with how recently the archive was updated. Opening an ad this way costs about 0.15 credits.

Selecting the brand name instead opens that brand's own page. See [Follow brands](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/following-brands).

## Save the useful examples

Use the ad card's **Save** action and follow the available save options. Reopen **Saved ads** to confirm the item is there. Use **Boards** for groups of related references where that option is available.

Keep generated creative in mind separately: **Ad library** under **Create ads** is for your creative work; **Saved ads** under **Ad spy** is for saved research references.

![Saved ads keeps research references separate from generated creative.](https://sellify.ai/images/docs/walkthroughs/ad-spy-saved.webp)

## Follow a brand

Use **Follow brand** on a relevant brand and look in **Following** to revisit followed brands. **Expert picks** provides another selection to explore. Neither a follow nor an expert selection means the brand's claims are verified for your product.

Only keep references that answer your research question. Record what you learned, then [turn the observation into your own angle](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy).

## Act on several ads at once

Tick the checkbox on each card to select it. A bar appears showing how many are selected, with three actions:

| Action               | What it does                                                                                |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Add to Board**     | Saves every selected ad to the boards you choose.                                           |
| **Copy Scripts**     | Copies the ready transcripts of the selected video ads to your clipboard, grouped by brand. |
| **Download Scripts** | Downloads the same transcripts as a file.                                                   |

Only videos that already have a transcript are included; the confirmation tells you how many selected ads had none yet.

## Recreate an ad with your product

**Recreate with my product** on an image ad opens **Recreate this ad with my product**, where you choose an **Aspect Ratio** and a **Product**. Sellify then generates a new ad around your product using the reference's structure. Video ads cannot be recreated this way.

The result is a generated ad, so it appears in **Create ads → Ad library**, not in Ad Spy, and it is billed like any other image-ad generation. Use it to borrow a layout or structure, not the advertiser's claims or assets; see [Use a reference without copying its claims](https://sellify.ai/docs/create-ads/clone-a-reference).

## Transcribe a video script

On a video ad, **Transcribe** asks **What would you like to get?** with two choices:

- **Transcript only**: the spoken words with timestamps, for rewriting a script to film yourself or with a creator. Lower credit use.
- **Full analysis**: the words, visuals and creative strategy, broken down scene by scene under **Video insights**.

Once either has run, the button changes to **View transcript** or **View analysis**. Analysis runs in the background; you can leave the page and come back.

## What each action costs

Ad Spy is metered in small amounts. Code defaults are below; your plan's provider configuration can override them, so check [Understand credits](https://sellify.ai/docs/credits) for your balance.

| Action                                                                                                                    | Credits    |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------- |
| Search, per page of results                                                                                               | about 0.15 |
| Open an ad's details                                                                                                      | about 0.15 |
| Fetch a followed, recommended or searched brand's ads                                                                     | about 0.15 |
| Transcript only                                                                                                           | about 0.25 |
| Full analysis                                                                                                             | about 3    |
| Brand recommendations for a product                                                                                       | about 3    |
| Save from the Chrome extension, when Sellify has to fetch the ad from Meta (archive saves and already-saved ads are free) | about 0.15 |

Following a brand, creating boards and sharing them do not use credits.

## If something's not right

### My search returned nothing

**Why this happens:** usually the filters, not the search. Country plus format plus channel narrows results quickly, and it is easy to end up with a combination nothing matches.

**What to do:** select **Clear filters** and search again, then add filters back one at a time. The count on the **Filters** button tells you how many are on.

### The results are all from the wrong country

**Why this happens:** **Country** defaults to **All countries**.

**What to do:** set it to the market you actually sell in. What works in one market often does not translate.

### I keep seeing the same ad repeatedly

**Why this happens:** brands run many near-identical versions of an ad, and each is a separate entry.

**What to do:** that repetition is a signal worth reading rather than filtering out. Use **Limit per brand** under **Filters** if you want fewer entries per brand while you scan.

### It stopped loading more results

**Why this happens:** two different pauses. Automatic loading stops after 50 pages of search results (220 for the recommended feed) so you are not left scrolling forever. Separately, if your filters hide every ad on the pages loaded so far, Sellify pauses after 3 pages so the search does not keep spending credits.

**What to do:** a message says which happened. **Load more** continues the first; the second offers **Load 3 more pages** with the maximum credit cost shown. Loosening or clearing your filters is usually the better move at that point, since tighter filters hide more ads and trigger the same pause again.

## Related

[Plan competitor research](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy) · [Organize saved ads into boards](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/boards) · [Follow brands](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/following-brands) · [Study curated expert picks](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/expert-picks) · [Save ads with the Chrome extension](https://sellify.ai/docs/ad-spy/chrome-extension) · [Understand credits](https://sellify.ai/docs/credits)