Kill The King: Why Meta Won’t Spend on Your “Better” Ads | The Ad Lab Live! EP068

Описание: Join Ralph Burns, Founder & CEO of Tier 11, and John Moran, Head of Strategy at Tier 11, as they answer your digital marketing questions LIVE every Friday!

This episode is a masterclass in why platform CPA can be a trap and how to “kill the king” when Meta gets stuck spending on one dominant ad. The core idea: Meta’s algorithm will keep feeding the best-known performer (the “king”) and starve new ads—even when those new ads have equal or better hook rates and engagement signals. So the only way to validate whether the new creative can actually outperform is to force spend by pausing the king and letting the new set take over.

They break down the two leading creative indicators—hook rate (3-sec views ÷ impressions) and hold rate (15-sec views ÷ 3-sec views)—as early signals of creative potential. Then they show the right operating rhythm: judge creative engagement inside Meta, but judge business impact in the source of truth (Shopify / Looker / Data Suite). If same spend + same traffic produces a higher conversion rate, you’ve improved messaging, not “media buying tricks.”

The second case study goes further: they temporarily shift budget away from a massive, mature campaign into a new video-heavy test campaign, and CPA inside Meta gets weird… but topline conversion rate improves. That’s the sticky pixel at work: Meta keeps chasing the same warmed-up people until they “buy, die, or unsubscribe,” so when you shift spend, CPAs can swing wildly while the system rebalances. The lesson: don’t panic at platform CPA during controlled budget shifts—watch conversion rate, ENCAC, and topline outcomes.

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Timestamps:
0:00 Profitable Growth First
0:26 Ad Lab Intro
1:08 Solutions 8 Origin Story
5:02 Kill The King Theme
5:14 Google Backseat
6:54 Standard Shopping Sacrifice
8:03 Rich vs Right
10:20 Sticky Pixel Setup
10:57 Bully Stick Central King Ad
12:36 Five New Ads Launch
13:56 43 Ads Can’t Kill It
14:31 Pause The King Test
14:52 Hook Rate Definition
15:07 Hold Rate Definition
16:37 Forced Spend Shift
17:11 Cost Per Result Down
18:06 More New Customers
18:14 CVR Up 36%
19:07 ENCAC Check
19:42 75% More New Customers
20:30 Source of Truth Reminder
22:14 Big Campaign Pause Test
23:14 SID Testing Setup
24:32 Looker Studio Topline View
25:03 ENCAC + CVR Focus
25:46 CVR Jumps 50%
26:42 Weekend Apples-to-Apples
27:01 Scale Spend + CVR Up
28:13 Two-Thirds Video
28:56 Sticky Pixel Explained
30:52 CPA Swings Explained
33:08 Natural Transition
35:41 Test Outcome Summary
36:50 High CAC Explained
38:14 Subscriber Value Logic
42:26 Forced Continuity
44:21 31% Take Rate
46:09 Default Subscription Flip
47:09 29 Subs in 18 Days
48:05 Subs Fund Ad Spend
49:47 Triple Whale Take
52:40 Feeder Attribution Answer
57:26 Speed Round