About estimated audience size

Estimated audience size generally estimates how many Accounts Centre accounts meet the targeting and ad placement criteria that advertisers select while creating an ad.

Estimates update in real time during the ad creation experience using methodology that considers many factors, such as:

• Ad targeting criteria and placement locations.
• How many Accounts Centre accounts were shown ads across Meta technologies and services in the past 30 days.
• What content people interact with across Meta technologies and services (such as liking a Page).
• Self-reported demographics such as age and gender.
• Where people see ads (for example, in a Facebook Feed or Instagram Stories).

Range estimates update in real time during the ad creation process and may vary depending on changes to your targeting and placement criteria, and other determining factors. Estimates may vary over time and should not be interpreted as the number of Accounts Centre accounts that will actually view your ads. The estimated range provided may not include the number of Accounts Centre accounts that meet the targeting and placement criteria in some instances. When your audience is expanded through Advantage products, the estimated audience size will not reflect the total number of Accounts Centre accounts that meet the targeting criteria.

Note: This metric is still in development. Learn more about in-development metrics.

The number of Accounts Centre accounts that your campaign actually ends up reaching depends on your budget and performance. Check your estimated daily results for that estimation. (Results apply to each day, not to the total results for your ad set).

Estimated audience size is not a proxy for monthly active users (MAU), monthly active people (MAP), daily active users (DAU) or daily active people (DAP) on Meta or engagement. (Meta's quarterly earnings announcements provide this information).

Estimates aren't designed to match population, census estimates or other sources, and may differ depending on factors such as:

• How many accounts across Meta technologies a person has.
• How many temporary visitors are in a particular geographic location at a given time.
• Meta user-reported demographics.

Note: In cases where a person has connected their Facebook and Instagram accounts in Accounts Centre, their Facebook and Instagram accounts will be counted collectively as a single account for ads estimation purposes. If a person has not connected their Facebook and Instagram accounts in Accounts Centre, their accounts will be counted as multiple accounts for ads estimation purposes.

• About ads targeting