Threads Ads: Getting Started with Meta's New Platform 2026

Meta's Threads platform has evolved from a Twitter alternative into a significant advertising opportunity. With over 200 million monthly active users as of early 2026, Threads offers advertisers access to a unique audience segment: users who prefer text-based, conversational content over the image-heavy feeds of Instagram. If you've been waiting for the right moment to test Threads Ads, that moment has arrived.

This guide covers everything you need to know to launch your first Threads campaign, from platform demographics to creative best practices and early performance data that can inform your strategy. Whether you're an experienced Meta advertiser or just starting with the Ads Manager, you'll learn how to leverage this new placement effectively within your existing campaigns.

What Are Threads Ads?

Threads Ads are sponsored content that appears within the Threads app feed, seamlessly integrated alongside organic posts from accounts users follow and discover. Unlike traditional display advertising, Threads Ads are designed to feel native to the platform's conversational, text-first environment. They appear in-feed as users scroll, marked with a "Sponsored" label but otherwise matching the look and feel of organic content.

From an advertiser's perspective, Threads functions as a placement within the broader Meta Ads ecosystem. You manage Threads campaigns through the same Ads Manager interface you use for Facebook and Instagram, with access to the same targeting capabilities, bidding strategies, and measurement tools. This integration means you don't need to learn an entirely new platform—Threads simply becomes another channel in your Meta advertising toolkit.

The key differentiator for Threads is its audience composition and content consumption patterns. Users come to Threads for real-time conversations, industry insights, and authentic interactions—not polished lifestyle content. This creates opportunities for brands that can match that energy with genuine, conversational advertising that adds value rather than interrupts.

Understanding the Threads Audience

Threads has attracted a distinct user demographic that differs meaningfully from Instagram and Facebook. Understanding these differences is crucial for creating content that resonates and targeting effectively. The platform skews toward users seeking substantive conversations and real-time information, making it particularly valuable for certain advertisers.

The user base tends to be more professionally oriented than Instagram, with strong representation from tech workers, media professionals, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders. Many users migrated from Twitter/X seeking a similar experience with Meta's infrastructure and moderation approach. This creates a valuable audience for B2B advertisers, professional services, and brands targeting educated, digitally-native consumers.

Threads demographic breakdown (Q1 2026)

Usage patterns also differ significantly. Threads users tend to engage in shorter, more frequent sessions throughout the day, often during work hours and commute times. Peak activity occurs during breaking news events and trending conversations. This creates opportunities for timely, relevant advertising that connects with what users are already discussing and thinking about.

Available Ad Formats on Threads

Threads currently supports three primary ad formats, each optimized for the platform's text-first environment. While the formats mirror those available on other Meta platforms, creative best practices differ significantly due to how users engage with content on Threads.

Single image ads

Single image ads combine visual content with substantial text, appearing as native posts in the feed. Unlike Instagram where imagery dominates, Threads users expect and engage with longer-form copy. Your primary text can include up to 500 characters, and users will actually read it. This format works well for thought leadership content, product announcements, and educational messaging.

Video ads

Video ads on Threads autoplay in-feed with sound off by default. Short-form video (under 30 seconds) performs best, particularly content that feels authentic rather than highly produced. User-generated style content, talking head videos, and behind- the-scenes footage tend to outperform polished commercial creative. Always include captions since most viewing occurs without sound.

Carousel ads

Carousel ads allow up to 10 cards, each with its own image, video, headline, and link. On Threads, carousels work exceptionally well for educational content, step-by-step guides, and story-driven narratives. The swipeable format encourages engagement and works naturally with the platform's culture of threaded conversations and multi-part posts.

Threads ad specifications

Setting Up Your First Threads Campaign

Launching Threads Ads follows the same workflow you're familiar with from other Meta campaigns, but with some specific considerations for placement selection and creative optimization. Here's how to get started effectively.

In Ads Manager, create a new campaign and select your objective. Threads supports most campaign objectives including awareness, traffic, engagement, leads, app promotion, and sales. The platform performs particularly well for traffic and engagement objectives due to users' high intent to discover and interact with content.

Campaign setup checklist

1. Select your campaign objective (Traffic or Engagement recommended for testing)
2. Choose Advantage+ placements or manual placement with Threads selected
3. Define your audience using existing custom audiences or interest targeting
4. Set your budget and bidding strategy (start with Lowest Cost for learning)
5. Upload Threads-optimized creative with conversational copy
6. Enable Advantage+ Creative for automatic format optimization
7. Launch and monitor for at least 7 days before making changes

For placement selection, you have two primary approaches. Advantage+ placements allows Meta's algorithm to optimize delivery across all available placements, including Threads. This approach typically delivers the best overall efficiency but gives you less control over where your ads appear. Manual placements let you specifically select Threads alongside or separate from other placements.

When testing Threads for the first time, consider using manual placements with Threads combined with Instagram Feed and Stories. This gives you enough scale for the algorithm to optimize while allowing you to compare Threads performance against familiar benchmarks. Use the placement breakdown in reporting to analyze performance by platform.

Creative Best Practices for Threads

Success on Threads requires understanding what makes the platform unique. Users come to Threads for authentic conversations and real-time engagement, not polished marketing messages. Your creative needs to match this expectation while still achieving your business objectives. For comprehensive creative guidance, see our Creative Best Practices guide.

The most successful Threads advertisers treat their ads like organic posts that happen to have a business purpose. They lead with value, participate in relevant conversations, and maintain an authentic voice that feels human rather than corporate. This doesn't mean abandoning your brand identity—it means adapting how you express it for a platform built on text-first, conversational content.

What works on Threads

• Conversational copy: Write like you're talking to a colleague, not delivering a press release
• Hot takes and opinions: Users value authentic perspectives, even if slightly controversial
• Behind-the-scenes content: Show the human side of your business
• Educational threads: Multi-post educational content performs exceptionally well
• Real-time relevance: Connect to trending topics and current events when appropriate
• User-generated style: Less polished, more authentic visual content

What to avoid on Threads

• Overly polished creative: Stock photos and corporate imagery feel out of place
• Hard-sell messaging: Aggressive promotional content gets ignored or hidden
• Generic copy: Bland, safe messaging doesn't stand out in conversational feeds
• Instagram repurposing: Content optimized for visual-first platforms underperforms
• Ignoring replies: Users expect brands to engage, not just broadcast

Consider your copy length carefully. While Threads allows longer text than most placements, that doesn't mean more is always better. The sweet spot tends to be 200-400 characters—long enough to provide substance but short enough to be consumed quickly during scroll sessions. Front-load your hook in the first line since that's what appears before users expand the post.

Targeting Options and Limitations

Threads leverages Meta's full targeting infrastructure, giving you access to the same powerful audience tools available on Facebook and Instagram. This includes custom audiences, lookalike audiences, detailed targeting by interests and behaviors, and demographic targeting. For advanced targeting strategies, see our Audience Targeting guide.

Custom audiences work identically on Threads. You can target website visitors, app users, customer lists, and engagement audiences. Particularly powerful on Threads are engagement-based custom audiences—people who have engaged with your Instagram or Facebook content often align well with the Threads audience profile.

Targeting recommendations for Threads

• Lookalike audiences: Create from high-value customers or engaged email subscribers
• Interest targeting: Focus on professional interests, industry topics, and thought leaders
• Engagement audiences: Retarget people who engaged with Instagram/Facebook content
• Broad targeting: Let the algorithm find converters with minimal restrictions

Current limitations include the absence of Threads-specific engagement audiences—you cannot yet create audiences based on Threads interactions specifically. Meta has indicated this functionality is planned for future updates. Additionally, some sensitive categories face additional restrictions on Threads due to the platform's community guidelines around authentic conversation.

Early Performance Benchmarks

With Threads Ads now available for several months, early performance data provides useful benchmarks for setting expectations and evaluating your campaigns. These numbers will likely shift as the platform matures and more advertisers enter the auction, but they offer a starting point for planning.

The most notable trend is cost efficiency. Threads CPMs are running 15-25% lower than Instagram Feed across most industries, likely due to lower advertiser competition and Meta's interest in encouraging adoption. This creates an arbitrage opportunity for early movers willing to invest in Threads-optimized creative.

Q1 2026 Threads benchmarks by industry

Engagement rates tend to be higher than Instagram, particularly for content that sparks discussion or provides genuine value. Comments and shares outperform likes as engagement signals, reflecting the platform's conversational nature. For advertisers measuring engagement, quality of engagement (meaningful replies vs. passive likes) should factor into evaluation.

Conversion performance varies significantly by industry and objective. B2B advertisers report particularly strong results for lead generation and content downloads, while e-commerce conversion rates remain slightly below Instagram benchmarks. This likely reflects the audience composition—users in professional mindsets may be more receptive to B2B messaging but less inclined toward impulse purchases.

Threads vs Twitter/X Advertising

Many advertisers consider Threads as an alternative or complement to Twitter/X advertising. While the platforms share similarities in format and audience expectations, meaningful differences affect how you should approach each channel.

The primary advantage of Threads lies in its integration with Meta's advertising infrastructure. You have access to the same robust targeting, measurement, and optimization tools you use for Facebook and Instagram. This includes cross-platform audiences, advanced attribution modeling, and the Conversions API for server-side tracking. Twitter/X offers comparable features, but the Meta ecosystem provides more seamless integration for advertisers already invested in the platform.

Platform comparison

Brand safety represents another consideration. Meta's content moderation approach on Threads tends to be more active than Twitter/X, which some brands view positively for maintaining ad adjacency standards. However, Twitter/X's longer history means more established conversation patterns and breaking news velocity that Threads is still building.

Integrating Threads with Instagram Campaigns

The most effective approach for most advertisers involves running Threads alongside Instagram rather than as an isolated channel. The platforms share underlying infrastructure and audience overlap, making integrated campaigns more efficient than siloed efforts. Meta's algorithm can optimize delivery across both platforms when you use Advantage+ placements.

Placement asset customization allows you to maintain integrated campaigns while still optimizing creative for each platform. Upload your Instagram-optimized imagery alongside Threads-specific text variations. The algorithm delivers the appropriate creative to each placement while optimizing for your overall campaign objective.

Integration best practices

• Unified audience strategy: Use the same custom and lookalike audiences across platforms
• Consistent messaging: Adapt tone and format, but maintain core value propositions
• Cross-platform retargeting: Retarget Threads viewers on Instagram and vice versa
• Budget flexibility: Let Advantage+ shift budget to highest-performing placements
• Creative testing: Test which creative concepts work on both vs. platform-specific

For retargeting specifically, consider the user journey across platforms. Someone who discovers your brand through a Threads post might later convert through an Instagram shopping ad. Attribution should account for this cross-platform influence, which Meta's unified measurement helps capture.

Measuring Threads Campaign Performance

Threads metrics appear alongside other placements in Ads Manager reporting. Use the breakdown feature to isolate Threads-specific performance and compare against other placements. Key metrics to monitor include delivery metrics (reach, impressions, frequency), engagement metrics (clicks, CTR, engagement rate), and conversion metrics tied to your campaign objective.

Attribution for Threads follows Meta's standard windows—default is 7-day click and 1-day view, though you can adjust based on your typical conversion timeline. For longer consideration purchases, consider extending to 28-day click attribution to capture the full impact of Threads advertising.

Key metrics to track

• Placement-level ROAS: Compare Threads return against other placements
• Engagement quality: Comments and shares indicate content resonance
• Frequency by placement: Threads may require different frequency caps
• Conversion path analysis: Understand Threads role in multi-touch journeys
• Creative performance: Identify which creative approaches work on Threads specifically

Early in your Threads testing, resist the urge to make performance judgments too quickly. Give campaigns at least 7-14 days to exit the learning phase and accumulate statistically significant data. The algorithm needs time to understand which Threads users are most likely to convert for your specific offer.

Getting Started: Your First Week

Ready to launch your first Threads campaign? Here's a practical roadmap for your first week that balances learning with results. This approach lets you gather meaningful data while managing risk.

Start with a campaign objective where you have existing benchmarks—traffic or engagement work well for initial testing. Select Advantage+ placements to include Threads alongside your proven placements, or use manual placements with Threads plus Instagram Feed if you want more controlled comparison data.

Week one action plan

1. Day 1: Launch campaign with 2-3 ad variations using Threads-optimized creative
2. Day 2-3: Monitor delivery to ensure Threads is receiving impressions
3. Day 4-5: Check placement breakdown for early performance signals
4. Day 6-7: Analyze initial data, plan creative iterations for week two

Budget should be sufficient for the algorithm to gather learning data—typically $50-100 per day minimum for meaningful Threads delivery when using Advantage+ placements. If you're testing Threads as a standalone placement, even this amount may distribute thinly. Consider allocating budget specifically to Threads-heavy ad sets for more concentrated learning.

After your first week, you'll have initial data to inform your strategy. Look at engagement quality (not just quantity), cost metrics versus your other placements, and conversion performance if you're running conversion-optimized campaigns. This data guides whether to scale Threads investment, optimize creative, or adjust your approach.

Threads represents an exciting opportunity for advertisers willing to adapt their approach for a conversational, text-first platform. The early-mover advantage won't last forever—as more advertisers enter the auction, costs will normalize. Now is the time to test, learn, and establish your presence while efficiency remains favorable. Benly can help you optimize your Threads creative and targeting to maximize results from this emerging placement.