A Meta catalog campaign that runs one product set across your whole catalog reports one blended result. Your best-sellers and the items nobody buys spend from the same budget and show up as the same number. Split the catalog into product sets, by theme, destination or season, and each group gets its own spend and its own results.
On a mentoring call, a marketer at a travel agency showed us a catalog sales campaign optimizing for purchases, at about 13 euros per purchase. The setup was clean. The catalog wasn't: every package, high selling and low selling, sat in one big feed. As an illustration, we said that out of 100 items, Meta might be pushing 50 that never get bought, and you can't see which.
What changed in how Meta names and builds catalog ads
Meta's help center now calls these ads with product media, previously Advantage+ catalog ads, and before that dynamic ads. Some help pages still use the older name. For new Sales campaigns, the Advantage+ catalog ads switch is gone:
- Catalog at campaign level. Keep Product data turned on during campaign setup. It's on by default if you have a catalog, and each campaign can use one catalog.
- Product set at ad level. You choose Product media as the creative source and select a product set during ad setup, so each ad controls which products may appear in it.
- Older campaigns are unaffected. Duplicating one migrates it to the new setup where possible.
How to split without starving delivery
Our advice on the call was to split by destination (one group for Italy, one for Greece, one for France) and by season, under one campaign budget, then give it two to three weeks. Pause what isn't bringing add to carts or purchases, and repeat the exercise each quarter, because the destination that sells before September isn't the one that sells after it.
The marketer's worry was fair: the account was already struggling to reach 50 optimization events per ad set, and more ad sets split those events further. Two ways to handle it:
- Split by ad, not only by ad set. Since the product set now lives on the ad, you can put one ad per product set in a single ad set. Meta shows the ad most likely to get the lowest cost per optimization event for each person, so the ads won't get equal delivery, and the events stay pooled.
- Optimize one step earlier. We suggested add to cart, which happens more often than a purchase, and tracking cost per purchase in the back end. Use the standard event: Meta says custom conversions can't optimize catalog ads.
Don't overdo it. Meta says a larger product set gives delivery more options and warns against very narrow filters. Carousel ads need at least two products, collection ads at least four, and an ad can pause if its set drops below that. Group by something real, like destination or season. To filter on it, add your own values with the internal label attribute, which Meta recommends over custom labels because updates don't trigger a policy review. For the same logic applied to geography, see why one national ad set averages your best states with your worst.
The takeaways
- One product set over the whole catalog blends best-sellers with items that never sell.
- Meta now calls catalog ads ads with product media, and new Sales campaigns pick the product set per ad.
- Split by destination, theme or season, give it two to three weeks, and pause what doesn't deliver.
- If events are thin, split by ad inside one ad set, or optimize for add to cart.
- Keep product sets broad enough: Meta warns very narrow filters limit recommendations.
Common questions
What are Advantage+ catalog ads called now?
Meta's help center now calls them ads with product media, previously called Advantage+ catalog ads, and before that dynamic ads. In new Sales campaigns there is no Advantage+ catalog ads switch: you keep Product data on at campaign level and choose Product media as the creative source in ad setup.
Where do I choose a product set in a Meta Sales campaign?
In new Sales campaigns, you select the catalog at campaign level and the product set during ad setup, so each ad controls which products may appear in it. Each campaign can use only one catalog. Campaigns created before the change keep running as they were.
How small should a Meta product set be?
Not too small. Meta says a larger product set gives delivery more options and advises against very narrow filters. Carousel ads need at least two products and collection ads at least four, and an ad can pause if its set falls below the minimum.
Can I optimize Meta catalog ads for a custom conversion?
No. Meta says you can't use custom conversions to optimize catalog ads, so use standard events such as Purchase or AddToCart, with the content ID parameters your catalog needs.
How do I group catalog items by season or destination?
Add your own data to products with the internal label or custom number attributes, then filter product sets on those attributes. Meta recommends internal labels over custom labels because they don't need a policy review each time you update them.