On 28 October 2026, Meta published details of a new generation of Andromeda, the system that decides which ads are even considered before anyone sees them on Facebook and Instagram. Meta says it now scores over one billion ads per second and has lifted Facebook conversions by 2.4% since 2025.
If you run Meta ads in the UAE, this changes what actually moves results. Here’s what the update is, what Meta has (and hasn’t) said, and what we recommend for businesses in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and across the Emirates.
What is Meta Andromeda?
Every time someone opens Facebook or Instagram, Meta has to choose a handful of ads from tens of millions of candidates. It does this in stages. Andromeda is the first stage, called retrieval: it narrows the full pool down to the few thousand ads most likely to be relevant. Later ranking models then pick which of those are shown.
That makes retrieval the gate. If your ad isn’t retrieved, it never competes in the auction at all, no matter how good your bid or audience settings are. Meta first introduced Andromeda in December 2024.
What changed in the October 2026 update?
According to Meta’s engineering team, the new Andromeda:
- Scores over one billion ads per second in production, about 100x the 2024 system.
- Scores every eligible ad for each impression, instead of working from a narrower shortlist.
- Uses a “mixture-of-experts” model: several specialised models each understand a different side of a person’s interests, and a routing layer sends each ad to the most relevant ones.
- Runs with about 300x less computing per prediction and around 100x less network traffic, because matching, scoring and selection now happen on a single GPU server (built with NVIDIA).
- Has delivered a 2.4% increase in conversions on Facebook since 2025.
Meta also says the reason it needed this is the sheer growth in ads: generative AI tools have helped advertisers create hundreds of millions of new ads, and Advantage+ automation keeps adding more.
What Meta has not said
A lot of advice online goes further than Meta does. To be clear:
- There is no new setting or report in Ads Manager. Meta says the gains arrive automatically.
- Meta has not published a minimum number of ads per ad set, a “creative similarity score” or a penalty for near-duplicate ads.
- The 2.4% is a platform-wide average, not a promise for any one account. Meta’s Q3 2026 results also showed the average price per ad up 14%, so competition for attention is still rising.
What this means for UAE advertisers
When a system scores every ad against every person, two things matter more than before: how clearly your creative signals who it’s for, and how many genuinely different ideas you give it to match with. Narrow targeting and endless audience splits matter less. Here’s how we apply that for UAE brands:
1. Give Andromeda distinct concepts, not cosmetic variations
Ten versions of the same video with different colours are, in practice, one idea. Build creative around different reasons to buy: price and value, speed, trust and reviews, a specific use case, a seasonal moment. Count your live concepts, not your ad IDs.
2. Make the audience obvious in the first second
Your creative now does much of the targeting. A real-estate ad that opens on “Off-plan in Dubai South from AED 1M” tells the system far more than a generic skyline shot. Show the product, the customer and the offer in the first frame and the first line of text.
3. Use Arabic and English creative, not just translated captions
The UAE audience is unusually diverse. Separate concepts made for Arabic-speaking, South Asian and Western expat audiences, with their own faces, settings and language, give Andromeda far more to match than a single ad with a translated caption.
4. Simplify your campaign structure
Broad targeting, fewer ad sets and Advantage+ placements let the system see more of your ads in more places. Stop splitting budget across dozens of tiny audiences that never exit the learning phase.
5. Keep a creative pipeline, not a one-off shoot
Winning concepts fatigue. Plan to add fresh concepts every few weeks and give each new one a fair budget and time before judging it. Fast-turnaround formats such as UGC-style videos, carousels and simple statics work well here.
6. Stay compliant with creator and partnership ads
Partnership ads with creators are a quick way to add new concepts, but in the UAE anyone promoting your brand on social media needs a UAE Media Council Advertiser Permit. Check permits and usage rights before you run creator content as ads.
7. Fix your measurement first
Better retrieval only helps if Meta can see your conversions. Make sure the Meta Pixel and Conversions API are set up properly, your key events (leads, WhatsApp clicks, purchases) are tracked, and your landing pages load fast on mobile.
Quick checklist
- At least 4–6 genuinely different creative concepts live per campaign
- Audience and offer clear in the first second of every ad
- Arabic and English concepts, built for each audience
- Broad targeting, fewer ad sets, Advantage+ placements
- A monthly plan for new concepts
- Advertiser Permits checked for every creator
- Pixel + Conversions API verified
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to change any settings because of Andromeda?
No. Meta says there’s no new setting to switch on. The update works in the background. What you can change is your creative variety and campaign structure, which decide how well the system can match your ads.
Is audience targeting dead on Meta?
Not dead, but less important. Meta’s systems increasingly work out who should see an ad from the ad itself and from people’s behaviour. Broad targeting with strong, clear creative usually performs better than very narrow audiences.
How many ads should I run?
Meta hasn’t set a number. What matters is the number of distinct ideas. For most UAE small and mid-sized businesses, 4–6 strong concepts per campaign, refreshed regularly, is a practical starting point.
Does this affect Instagram too?
Andromeda serves ads across Meta’s apps. Meta’s published 2.4% conversion figure is for Facebook; it hasn’t shared a separate Instagram number.
Need help adapting your Meta ads?
Our paid ads team in Abu Dhabi plans Meta campaigns built for how Andromeda works: clear creative concepts, Arabic and English variations, clean tracking and simple structures that scale. We combine this with social media content and ad creative design under one roof. Get in touch or call +971 50 398 7265.
Sources: Engineering at Meta (Oct 2026); Engineering at Meta (Dec 2024); PPC Land. Performance figures are Meta’s own and have not been independently audited.
Want results like this for your business?
Talk to G&G Digital Solution, a digital marketing agency in Abu Dhabi.