Broad Targeting vs Interest Stacking in 2026 – What’s Working?

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Quirkle

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Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
 
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Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
Hey, I’ve been testing both too. For me, broad works better when the creative is really strong and clear, FB finds the right people itself. Interest stacking can still work but feels slower and more picky, sometimes cost go up. I mostly go broad now for scaling, keep testing small interests only for low budget stuff or new ideas.
 
Yeah broad is working better for most now, fb algo got smarter so it finds right people if creative is strong, interest stacking still works sometimes but more hit or miss and can limit scaling, most people doing $100+ daily are going broad with good creatives and letting pixel optimize, but yeah results can vary by account so best is test both and scale what works
 
I mostly go broad with good creatives, works better for scaling. Interest stacking still ok for small tests, but broad usually wins if budget $100+/day.
 
myadreviewer said:
Yeah broad is working better for most now, fb algo got smarter so it finds right people if creative is strong, interest stacking still works sometimes but more hit or miss and can limit scaling, most people doing $100+ daily are going broad with good creatives and letting pixel optimize, but yeah results can vary by account so best is test both and scale what works
Click to expand...
How do you manage to get the pixel optimize automatically?
 
scaling wise most people lean broad now and just test creatives hard. if account is fresh or low data interests can still help guide it early. after that broad usually takes over if creatives are solid.
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
Broad targeting can help you reach more people at a lower cost. I usually target by geographic location rather than interests, and the results are consistently better.
 
Currently, Facebook targeting is only one of the input requirements. In addition, you need to constantly optimize for changes in Meta's algorithm.
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
In 2026, broad targeting is definitely winning for me. Facebook and Google's AI are smart enough now to find your audience based on your creative and conversion data alone. Interest stacking often just limits the algorithm's ability to scale. I'd say focus on your 'hook' and let the platform do the heavy lifting.
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
In my experience, broad targeting works better with strong creatives, but it’s not always the case. Some accounts still do well with detailed targeting. If you're spending $100+/day, try both. Broad can work if your ad is good, but detailed targeting can still bring good results too. Just test and see what works best for you.
 
While broad targeting does yield better results in some cases, it's not consistent because the learning varies across campaigns. I often combine pixel data collection to optimize my experiments.
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
Br performance depends on your creative team and the target audience that the account has recognized over time
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
in my exp bro broad working better now if pixel got some data, fb algo smart so good creative matters more than targeting, interest stacking still works but mostly for testing start, scaling i just go broad + good creatives, but yeah some ad accounts still act weird sometimes.
 
I’m mostly going broad now with strong creatives, works better for most of my accounts. Interest stacking still helps sometimes but only for very specific niches. Broad saves time and FB usually finds the right people if your creatives are good.
 
Quirkle said:
Hey all,
With all the recent changes in FB ads targeting, I’ve been testing fully broad audiences vs layered interest targeting.
Surprisingly, broad is performing better in some cases, but results are inconsistent across different ad accounts.
For those spending $100+/day consistently:
  • Are you relying mostly on broad + strong creatives?
  • Or still seeing success with detailed targeting?
Would love to hear what’s currently scaling for you guys.
Click to expand...
Mostly broad + letting the algorithm do the work now. Interest stacking still works in some niches, but it’s way less consistent than it used to be. If your creatives aren’t strong, no targeting saves it anyway.

I just start broad, then scale what the pixel learns instead of overbuilding ad sets.
 
Broad is working better in many cases, but I wouldn’t say detailed targeting is totally useless. This is just not true in my experience.

For me it depends on the account and the offer. If the pixel has enough clean data and the creative clearly speaks to the right person, broad usually does well. The creative basically does part of the targeting.

But for niche products/B2B/local offers I still test more focused audiences. I either use specific demographics or create custom audiences from relevant FB groups or IG account followers using Leadenforce, then compare them with broad/Advantage+.

I’d avoid stacking going too hard on the filters though. That often just makes the audience smaller and delivery more expensive.

So basically, you can try going broad first, see the results, if you're satisfied, go with it. If not, try something more narrow. Oh, and scale your ads based on purchases/leads, not just CTR or clicks.
 
broad + good creative working better for me now, interest stacking feels too limited and dies fast, FB algo doing most of the work nowadays
 
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