Meta expands Reels, Threads, and AI tools to boost brand-building

Meta used its Brand Building Summit to unveil updates aimed at helping advertisers tap into cultural moments across its apps, with new ad formats, trending placements, and AI-powered targeting.

What’s new:

• Reels trending ads are opening up to more advertisers after closed beta. The format places brands alongside the most popular Reels, with early tests showing a 20% boost in unaided awareness — on par with YouTube Select and above TikTok Pulse.

• Threads ads now support carousel formats, 4:5 single image and video rendering, and simplified campaign setup. With 400 million monthly active users, Meta is pitching Threads as a growing space for authentic brand conversations.

• Value rules for awareness and engagement extend AI-powered audience prioritization beyond sales campaigns. Tests show advertisers doubled high-value conversions compared to business-as-usual setups.
• Landing page view optimization helps brands without direct pixel access (like CPGs) reach users more likely to load their destination site, cutting cost per view by 31%.

Why we care. Brands are under pressure to stay relevant where culture happens. The expansion of trending Reels ads means brands can align themselves directly with cultural moments, driving proven lifts in awareness and recall.

At the same time, AI-powered tools like value rules and landing page optimization give marketers more precise control over who sees their ads and how those ads perform, which should lead to stronger conversions and lower costs.

The big picture. With Reels seeing over 4.5B daily shares and more than half of Instagram time spent in the format, Meta is positioning itself as the place where culture spreads — and where brands can insert themselves seamlessly into the conversation.

The bottom line. Meta is giving advertisers more ways to ride cultural waves — whether through trending Reels, expanding Threads, or smarter AI targeting.