Bid multipliers
- Also called Bid multiplier
- Updated November 11, 2026
Bid multipliers are a Meta Marketing API setting that lets one ad set bid differently for different audience segments, such as an age range, a device, a placement or a custom audience. You attach a weight to each segment and Meta scales the bid by it. They are being retired: Meta says the API goes away in 2027, and value rules take over most of what they do.
How does Meta define bid multipliers?
Meta's Bid Multipliers developer page:
Bid multipliers allow you to employ an audience-aware bidding strategy within a single ad set, by assigning different weights to different audience segments within your bid multiplier parameter set.
Without them, Meta says, "you would typically create multiple ad sets, with each
ad set targeting one specific audience segment." The weight "can range from
0.09 to 1.0", so a multiplier can only hold a bid or lower it. Anyone outside
your segments gets the default weight, which is 1.0 unless you set another.
Meta's simple example applies 0.7 to ages 18 to 24, 1.0 to ages 25 to 34 and 0.3
to everyone else.
When do bid multipliers go away?
In 2027. The developer page: "The bid multipliers API is going away in 2027." Meta's About value rules page puts it this way: "Advertisers who use bid multipliers and want to continue expressing value for outcomes from certain audiences will be required to use value rules by 2027." Neither gives a date within the year.
How do bid multipliers map to value rules?
Value rules cover the common segments, though not all of them. From the developer page's audience category table:
| Bid multiplier category | Value rule criteria |
|---|---|
age, gender | AGE, GENDER |
device_platform, user_os | DEVICE_PLATFORM, OS_TYPE |
home_location | LOCATION |
publisher_platform, position_type | PLACEMENT |
custom_audience, locale, user_device, user_bucket, user_recency, travel dates and stay length | "Not supported in value rules" |
Value rules also work differently. They can raise a bid "by up to 1000%" as well as cut it "by up to 90%", the default is always 1.0, there is no nesting, and when a person matches two rules the earliest one wins. A rule set is saved to the ad account and can be attached to many ad sets, and Ads Manager has a screen for it.
For custom audience multipliers, Meta points to audience labels, which "will serve some of the same functions" and which the value rules API now lists as a criteria type, in closed beta. For the other unsupported categories, Meta says it does "not plan to add any more criteria types", and suggests simplifying the strategy.
What can't move to value rules yet?
| Case | What Meta says |
|---|---|
| Bid cap | "We do not plan to support bid cap bidding strategy with value rules." Move the ad set to cost per result goal first. |
| ROAS goal | "Value rules do not yet support" it; Meta's page says support "will become available later in 2026." |
| Campaign budget | An ad set whose default weight isn't 1.0 is rejected at migration; Meta recommends the same rule set on every ad set in the campaign. |
| Special ad categories | Housing, employment and credit can't use AGE, GENDER or some LOCATION types. |
How do you migrate from bid multipliers?
Meta offers a translation API that turns an ad set's multipliers into an equivalent value rule set, and a call that attaches the new set while deleting the old multipliers. "An ad set cannot use bid multipliers and value rules simultaneously." The deletion is final: it "cannot be reversed", so Meta says "it may be prudent to first retrieve the bid multiplier parameter set" and save it in case you need to go back.
What it means for your ads
- List every ad set that still uses multipliers, and save each parameter set before you touch it.
- Sort them by bid strategy. Bid cap ad sets need a new strategy first, and ROAS goal ad sets wait for Meta's support.
- Check the categories. Anything built on custom audiences, locale or user buckets has no direct value rule, so plan the simpler version now.
- Expect different behavior after the switch. Value rules can raise bids, which multipliers never could, so cost per result may move.
Sources
- Bid Multipliers — Meta for Developers (accessed November 11, 2026)
- Value Rules — Meta for Developers (accessed November 11, 2026)
- About value rules in Meta Ads Manager — Meta Business Help Center (accessed November 4, 2026)
Meta updates its developer documentation without notice, so check the source before changing an integration.
Terrads makes each placement you pick at its own size, so the placements a value rule bids up get an ad built for their frame.