Social Ads Report 2026: Real Data on What Works on Meta and TikTok [Download it now] ➔
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Spending more on ads should mean bringing in more revenue, right? Well…not necessarily. Metricool’s 2026 Social Media Ads Report found that ROAS dropped from $5.48 to $4.57 in one year, even as ad spend more than doubled from $62.9 million to $151.8 million. Revenue grew too, but advertisers earned less for every dollar spent.
So, how do you turn things around without simply throwing more money at ads? Whether you’re already dealing with a low ROAS or want to get ahead of a potential decline, we’ll break down why returns are falling and share practical tips on how to improve ROAS.
Return on ad spend measures how much revenue your ads generate for every dollar spent. Generally, higher ROAS is good, but it doesn’t provide the clearest picture. Product costs, profit margins, and operating expenses all affect your bottom line. Plus, what counts as a good ROAS varies by industry, platform, and campaign goals. The key is finding a return that makes sense for your business, not chasing a universal benchmark.
According to Metricool’s 2026 Social Media Report, advertisers are spending more on ads but getting less back for every dollar invested. Let’s look at what the data reveals and what it means for your campaigns.
As mentioned above, ROAS fell from $5.48 to $4.57 between 2025 and 2026, even as advertising spend more than doubled. Revenue also grew from $344.8 million to $694.4 million. So, advertisers are generating more revenue overall, but each advertising dollar is bringing in less. If you’re figuring out how to improve ROAS, this is an important distinction: growing your revenue doesn’t automatically mean your ad campaigns are becoming more efficient.
You might expect the biggest advertisers to get the best returns, but the data tells a different story. Huge accounts recorded a ROAS of just $3.96, lower than even the smallest accounts. Larger advertisers can face challenges like audience saturation, rising acquisition costs, and diminishing returns as they scale. A bigger budget doesn’t guarantee better performance, which is why strategy and ongoing optimization matter just as much as spending power.
More revenue doesn’t always mean better returns. Understanding what’s behind the decline is the first step in learning how to improve ROAS. If you’re dealing with low ROAS, a few potential culprits could be holding your campaigns back:
If your ad spend is climbing but your returns aren’t keeping up, it’s time to take a closer look at your social ad campaigns. The good news is that you don’t always need to spend more to improve your ROAS. The seven steps below will help you identify what’s going wrong, make smarter adjustments, and get more from your budget.
Before making changes, figure out what’s working and what isn’t. Compare ROAS across campaigns, audiences, creatives, and platforms to spot patterns. Review spend, conversions, and acquisition costs to spot consistent underperformers instead of reacting to a single down day.
Even your best ads can lose their spark over time. Test new visuals, headlines, hooks, formats, and calls to action to see what your audience connects with. Change one major variable at a time and give each test enough data to draw useful conclusions.
Reaching more people doesn’t always mean reaching the right people. Review which audiences generate valuable conversions and which ones drain your budget. Test prospecting and retargeting strategies, but avoid narrowing your audience so much that you miss potential customers.
Getting the click is just the beginning. Make sure your landing page matches your ad’s promise, loads quickly, and makes purchasing easy. Confusing messaging, slow pages, or a complicated checkout can turn interested shoppers into lost sales.
Put more of your budget behind campaigns that consistently deliver strong results, and review those that aren’t pulling their weight. Scale successful campaigns gradually. Increasing spend too quickly can lead to diminishing returns and a lower ROAS.
A good ROAS target depends on your profit margins, customer value, and campaign goals. Track ROAS alongside conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and average order value to get a fuller picture. Also, check that your conversion tracking and attribution settings are accurate and consistent.
Improving ROAS isn’t a one-and-done job. Monitor results, document what’s changed, and use what you’ve learned to guide your next move. Regular testing helps you spot new opportunities and respond when audience behavior or campaign performance shifts.
If you’re wondering how to improve ROAS over the longer term, remember that small, data-driven adjustments can add up. The goal isn’t just to fix low ROAS today. It’s to build campaigns that work more efficiently over time.
Now that you know how to improve ROAS, it’s time to see how your ad campaigns compare. Metricool’s 2026 Social Media Ads Report analyzed 600,000+ advertising campaigns from 44,000+ advertisers across Meta and TikTok, with more than $400 million in ad spend.
The report breaks down key trends to help you make more informed decisions about your social strategy. You’ll discover what’s happening across paid social and get data-backed insights to help guide your next campaign. Ready to dig into the data?
628,969 Ad Campaigns, One Report
Metricool’s 2026 Social Ads Report
We analyzed $471M in Meta and TikTok ad spend to show you what’s working in paid social right now.
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