The short answer
Among the big categories on Meta, pets, apparel, beauty and food produce top-tier ads most often (about 12% each, against 10% across the board), and pets carry the highest median estimated spend at $274K. Health is the largest category by far, with 919 winning ads, but has the lowest top-tier share of the big ones: 7%.
The category ranking
We tag every ad on the Ad Radar board with the category of the product it sells. Then we measured two things per category: how often its ads reach the top tier (Ad Radar's top 10% by winner score, live 21+ days) and the median estimated spend per ad. The board on October 9, 2026: 2,443 live Meta ads, 749 brands, each with at least $50k in estimated spend.
| Category | Ads | Brands | Reach the top tier | Median est. spend | 90th pct est. spend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pets | 381 | 74 | 12% | $274K | $1.25M |
| Beauty | 308 | 96 | 12% | $201K | $1.02M |
| Apparel | 112 | 20 | 12% | $285K | $1.50M |
| Food & beverage | 148 | 51 | 12% | $215K | $1.24M |
| Home | 119 | 45 | 11% | $249K | $1.06M |
| Health | 919 | 267 | 7% | $195K | $841K |
| Travel | 57 | 13 | 16% | $224K | $2.01M |
| Business & finance | 31 | 11 | 23% | $315K | $1.21M |
| Tools & DIY | 25 | 6 | 24% | $482K | $1.21M |
| Whole board | 2,443 | 749 | 10% | $223K | $1.07M |
We left out the catch-all "Other" group, two small safety-related categories, and categories under 20 ads. Spend figures are estimates modeled on public engagement data, so read them as a ranking.
How to read it: three kinds of category
Big categories that win above average
Pets, beauty, apparel, food and home all sit at 11 to 12%, above the 10% baseline, each with more than 100 ads. These are the most reliable bets in the data: enough brands and ads that the rate isn't driven by one advertiser, and a consistent edge over the board.
Pets stands out. It has the highest median estimated spend of the large categories and the second-highest 90th percentile. Pet owners respond to their animal's problems the way parents respond to a child's, and pet products are often consumables (food, supplements, chews) that repeat. More in pet ads.
Apparel has the highest top end ($1.50M at the 90th percentile) but only 20 brands, with the top three holding 44% of the category's ads. Fewer players, bigger ads.
The giant that wins below average
Health is 38% of the board: 919 ads from 267 brands, more ads than pets, beauty and apparel combined. Yet it has the lowest top-tier share and the lowest 90th percentile of the large categories. It is also the most fragmented: the top three health brands hold only 14% of its ads.
That's the profile of a crowded market. Lots of advertisers, lots of ads, budgets spread thin. It doesn't mean you can't win in health. It means your ad competes with more ads that look like it. See supplement ads for what the leaders do differently.
Small categories with high rates
Travel (16%), business and finance (23%) and tools and DIY (24%) post the highest rates on the board. All three are small and concentrated:
- Tools & DIY: 25 ads from 6 brands. One brand has 18 of them.
- Business & finance: 31 ads, one advertiser with 19 (an online certification seller, mostly image ads).
- Travel: 57 ads, with a luggage brand behind 26.
These rates mostly describe a few strong advertisers. They tell you a single brand can dominate a small category on Meta, not that the category is easy. Treat them as samples too small to rank against the large categories.
Cabinet door broken?
- Est. spend
- $1.6M
- Days live
- 341
- Format
- Video, 55s
The brand behind most of the Tools & DIY category. A three-word problem, then a 50-second fix. Simple, visible problems are why this small category posts such a high rate.
The niche view: a level deeper
Categories are broad. Niches (the problem or use the ad addresses) show more spread. Here are the niches with at least 60 ads, highest and lowest top-tier shares.
| Niche | Ads | Reach the top tier | Median est. spend | Median days live |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beauty (makeup and cosmetics) | 91 | 21% | $271K | 110 |
| Inflammation | 67 | 18% | $217K | 119 |
| Joints | 208 | 14% | $237K | 133 |
| Apparel and fashion | 81 | 12% | $282K | 127 |
| Pet | 313 | 12% | $275K | 136 |
| Skin | 224 | 10% | $232K | 114 |
| Cleaning | 151 | 10% | $197K | 113 |
| Digestion | 239 | 7% | $201K | 154 |
| Foot | 135 | 5% | $202K | 155 |
| Sleep | 99 | 5% | $209K | 146 |
| Women's health | 69 | 4% | $217K | 114 |
| Heart and cardiovascular | 100 | 3% | $162K | 114 |
Two patterns. Makeup leads, and it's a category where the result shows on camera within seconds. Before-and-after is built into the product.
And the niches at the bottom (foot, sleep, digestion) have the longest median runs on the board. Their ads don't reach the top tier often, but they keep running for five months. These are steady, chronic-problem markets. An ad that works there likely keeps working without the fast engagement growth that lifts a winner score. A low top-tier rate doesn't always mean a bad market. Sometimes it means a slow one.
So what's the better foundation, Estée Lauder Double Wear or the Luxe Color Changing Foundation?
- Est. spend
- $1.9M
- Days live
- 154
- Format
- Video, 81s
- Variants
- 3
A side-by-side foundation test against a famous name. In makeup the proof is visible on camera, which helps explain why the niche leads the board at 21%.
Example winners from the strong categories
Forty bags were stolen from the carousel at Denver International in a single year.
- Est. spend
- $4.1M
- Days live
- 126
- Format
- Video, 85s
- Variants
- 6
A tracker card sold through a lost-luggage story. Travel is a small category with a high top-tier rate, and this ad shows the formula: a specific fear, a short first-person story, a cheap fix.
Online Certification for Grief Coaches
- Est. spend
- $4.7M
- Days live
- 84
- Format
- Image
- Variants
- 15
The advertiser that carries the business and finance category. A static image, a plain headline naming the offer, 15 variants and past $4.6M in estimated spend in under three months.
Picking a category: a checklist
- Check the rate and the size together. A 24% rate on 25 ads is one brand. A 12% rate on 381 ads is a market.
- Count the brands. Under 20 brands with the top three holding 40%+ of ads means a few incumbents own the feed.
- Check the 90th percentile. That's the ceiling a strong ad can reach. Apparel and pets have high ceilings, health a lower one.
- Check days live. Long runs with low top-tier rates (foot, sleep, digestion) suggest steady markets where one good ad lasts.
- Ask whether your result shows on camera. The top niches (makeup, joints, pets) have visible problems and visible results.
- Look at the actual ads before deciding. How to find winning products by reading ads covers the signals, and Facebook ad spend benchmarks the spend side.
Each category and niche in these tables is a filter on the Ad Radar board, sorted by estimated spend or days live. For category deep dives, see beauty ads and home product ads.
Figures marked as estimated spend come from Ad Radar's model of engagement on public Meta Ad Library ads. They are estimates, labeled as such, and are best used to rank ads against each other.