Meta's new placement settings: what you can still control

You can no longer choose placements by hand at the ad set level on Leads, App promotion and Sales campaigns. Those objectives now default to Advantage+ placements. Awareness, Traffic and Engagement campaigns keep the manual option. Meta is rolling this out gradually, so two ad accounts can show different screens on the same day.

On the affected objectives, Meta points to three replacements: customizing media for each placement, raising or lowering bids with placement value rules, and setting exclusions at the account level. They work differently from the old checkboxes, and Meta doesn't present any of them as a way to drop Feed, Stories or Reels from one ad set.

What's new in placement settings in Meta Ads Manager

That is the title of the help page announcing the change. It carries the banner "This feature is being rolled out gradually and may not be available to you yet." The core of it:

For these objectives, you no longer choose placements manually at the ad set level.

The page says of the second group: "You can still set placements manually for those objectives." Meta's About Advantage+ placements page agrees, and adds that the three affected objectives "now default to Advantage+ placements".

Engagement is the row to check against other write-ups. Relevant Audience's article of October 13, 2026 says the removal covers four objectives, Engagement among them. Meta's page lists three as of November 4, and states that Engagement isn't affected. The page shows no date, so it isn't clear whether Meta changed it or the article misread it. It also doesn't say what happens to ad sets that already run on manual placements.

Why is Meta taking manual placements away?

Meta's stated reason is cost. The page says the update lets the delivery system "allocate budget across placements based on where they're likely to perform best", which "can help you lower your cost per result compared to using manual placement settings."

The one figure behind that sits on the Advantage+ placements page: "In an experiment, ad sets using Advantage+ placements delivered an 11.7% lower cost per action (CPA) on average compared to ad sets using manual placement settings." Meta gives no date, sample or method for that experiment.

How do you keep a 9:16 video out of Feed?

Advertisers on r/FacebookAds have been reporting vertical creative landing in Feed with the text cropped.

Two lines on Meta's Best practices for aspect ratios page explain it. The first: "your media is automatically adjusted to fit more placements." The second covers the fix people try first:

If you want a specific asset to deliver only to certain placements, use placement opt-outs in addition to cropping. Cropping alone won't restrict delivery.

So a file exported at 9:16 isn't limited to Stories and Reels by its shape. The same page lists 1:1 and 4:5 as the supported ratios for Feed, and for a shape you didn't supply, the system "helps fill the gaps using adjustment options such as padding, media expansion, cropping and additional AI-enabled features." How Meta fills a missing aspect ratio breaks down which adjustment runs where.

That leaves two practical moves:

1. Give Feed its own file. Upload a 4:5 next to the 9:16, so Meta has something made for that frame. Meta recommends the same thing in general terms: "if Stories is an important placement for your campaign, upload a 9:16 asset".
2. Use the opt-outs in the ad itself. Meta says the aspect ratios view lets you "preview each variation, opt in or out and make adjustments before publishing." The placement settings page doesn't say how far those opt-outs go on the three affected objectives, so check the preview for each placement before you publish.

If your setup has flexible media on, look there too. Meta's asset customization page says it lets the system "adjust aspect ratios to deliver your media across additional placements when there is an opportunity to improve the performance of your ad campaign."

What can you customize for each placement?

Crops, text and links, plus the file itself. The placement settings page describes ads with "up to 10 images and videos", known as multi-media ads, and says "At least one media is required for each placement." For each asset you can "customize aspect ratios, text, URL and delivery settings".

One limit works in your favor:

Your ads won't deliver in placements where the media assets aren't supported and warning indicators in Ads Manager will communicate when a different image or video, aspect ratio or video length may be needed.

Treat those warnings as a to-do list. Meta's older examples still apply: use "a vertical aspect ratio for ads in stories", and remember that "Instagram Stories work well with short copy." The same page mentions "Facebook Stories video requirements (1-15 seconds)", but Meta's ads guide accepts longer Stories video and splits it into cards past 15 seconds. That asset customization page now opens with a note that it explains "the original placement asset customization workflow", so your screen may look different.

Can value rules exclude a placement?

No. A value rule changes how much Meta bids, and the limits are on Meta's About value rules page: "You can increase bids by up to 1000% or decrease bids by up to 90%." The deepest cut leaves a tenth of the bid, so a rule can make a placement less likely without switching it off.

Three more limits matter if you planned to use rules as a stand-in for the old controls:

• Only "select placements" can be a criterion.
• "Value rules are not available for manual bid strategies such as ROAS goal or bid cap." Meta's pages disagree about ROAS goal, but bid cap is out on all of them.
• The about page warns that "your overall cost per result may increase."

Meta frames this as telling it "how much more (or less) the conversions from a placement are worth to your business". Use a number you can defend from your own data, because that is what the system will optimize toward.

Which placements can account controls exclude?

Four, on the list Meta gives:

• Audience Network native, banner, and interstitial
• Audience Network rewarded videos
• Facebook Marketplace
• Facebook right column

Feed, Stories and Reels aren't on it. What's new is that "You can now also set account-level placement exclusions by objective", and that option covers all six objectives. So a Sales-only exclusion no longer has to apply to your Traffic campaigns, though it does reach every Sales campaign in the account.

Meta's page on setting account controls adds the details: the feature is being introduced gradually, "Account controls apply to all campaigns in your ad account", and "Changes to existing campaigns may take up to 48 hours." The controls don't apply to ads about social issues, elections or politics, or to ads about financial products and services, employment or housing.

What changes for partnership ads?

Less than for other ads. With Advantage+ placements on, Meta says you still select the media and text, and you can "Manage the placements your partnership appears, if it's limited to specific placements after you select a post." Partnership ads have their own rules on codes and permissions.

Planning creative for placements you don't pick

If a campaign really must run only in certain placements, Awareness, Traffic and Engagement still allow it. That also changes what the campaign optimizes for, so it's a trade to make on purpose. Otherwise, assume a Sales, Leads or App promotion ad will appear wherever a file can fit:

1. Upload at least a 4:5 and a 9:16. The specs for Facebook Feed and Instagram Reels list the sizes, and the free ad size checker shows which placements a file fits.
2. Keep text and logos inside the safe zone, since the vertical placements put interface over the ad. The safe zone checker overlays it on your file.
3. Write text that survives in the shortest placement you might get.
4. Check each placement's preview, then fix whatever Ads Manager flags.

Sources

• What's new in placement settings in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• About Advantage+ placements — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Best practices for aspect ratios in Meta ads — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• About asset customization for placements in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• About value rules in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
• Set audience and placement controls for your ad account — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)

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Meta is still rolling this out and revises these pages without notice, so check the source and your own Ads Manager before planning around any of it.

Terrads makes each placement you pick at its own size, composed for its frame, so Feed and Reels each get a file built for them instead of a crop.