Unpacking Meta’s 2025 Ad Overhaul: Andromeda, Advantage+, & What It Means for Your Ads

It’s 2025, so naturally, Meta is betting big on automation and artificial intelligence to supposedly deliver better, more efficient advertising experiences. With the launch of the Andromeda infrastructure and the expansion of the Advantage+ suite (including new AI creative tools and lead-generation options), Meta is planning to reshape how advertisers can reach their audiences.

But what exactly does this mean for your campaigns? Here’s your full guide to the trends, the pros and cons, and IMM’s recommendations for navigating these new changes.

High-Level Trends: Automation, AI, and Andromeda

Streamlined Campaigns with Advantage+

Meta is pushing towards a future where manual campaign tweaking takes a back seat. With the Advantage+ suite now fully integrated for sales, app promotion, and lead generation, Meta’s AI handles everything from audience targeting to creative optimizations without much human intervention. According to the platform, change is designed to democratize advanced ad performance.

This means the platform’s algorithms will handle more decisions like budget allocation, placement, and audience targeting. Meta’s data shows these AI-driven campaigns are growing rapidly; for example, Advantage+ Shopping (automated e-commerce ads) usage grew 70% year-over-year in Q4 (Meta simplifies Advantage+ campaign setup, adds leads campaigns).

Andromeda’s Back-End Boost

Under the hood, Meta’s new Andromeda infrastructure uses state-of-the-art machine learning and AI to match your ads with the right users faster and more efficiently. The system not only speeds up ad delivery but also optimizes relevance at scale.

According to Meta’s technical briefings, Andromeda offers measurable improvements in ad quality and conversion rates, with up to an 8% boost in relevance scores.

AI-Driven Creative Enhancements

Meta’s creative tools now leverage AI to generate variations of your ad copy, images, and videos. For example, luxury brands can have product images placed in dynamic, AI-generated settings to better capture their premium style. However, while these tools offer an 8% improvement in ad quality and could increase ROAS by up to 22%, they might sometimes sacrifice your brand’s distinct voice.

“AI creative tools are powerful for generating diverse creatives at scale, but human oversight remains essential to maintain brand integrity.” - Corien de Jong, President of IMM

Weighing the Pros and Cons

The Pros

- Efficiency and Scale: AI-driven automation means less manual micromanagement and more time to focus on strategy and creative production. With Advantage+ and Andromeda, even small advertisers can enjoy advanced targeting without investing in heavy technical resources.

The democratization of advanced ad targeting is a boon for brands with limited marketing teams.

- Advanced Creative Capabilities: The AI creative enhancements offer multiple versions of ad assets—helping you test and deploy content that resonates best with your target audience.

Meta reports significant increases in ROAS when advertisers experiment with AI enhancements alongside traditional creatives.

- Improved Delivery Efficiency: Andromeda’s rapid matching of ads with users helps ensure that your creative gets in front of those who are most likely to engage, resulting in potentially higher conversion rates.

Early studies indicate faster response times and improved ad relevance when using the new infrastructure.

The Cons

- Loss of Granular Control: With deeper reliance on AI, there is less opportunity for hands-on adjustments. Advertisers lose some control over targeting specifics, which might be a concern for niche or highly curated brands like luxury goods retailers or specialized financial services.

“While automation can drive efficiency, it also means giving up a level of manual fine-tuning that some advertisers may have relied on.”

- Quality and Brand Consistency Risks: AI-generated creative assets might occasionally miss the mark in reflecting your unique brand voice or aesthetic. For businesses where reputation and quality are paramount, this could result in a disconnect with your audience.

Some early adopters reported that while AI-generated imagery boosts engagement, it sometimes doesn’t align perfectly with established brand guidelines.

- Extra Costs on iOS: A practical concern remains for advertisers using in-app boosting on iOS devices: a 30% fee is now applied, an extra cost that can quickly add up when budgets are lean.

Tactical Recommendations for Advertisers

Whether you’re in e-commerce or lead generation for B2B businesses, here are some actionable tips to navigate Meta’s evolving platform:

1. Experiment with Hybrid Campaigns: Don’t rely solely on automation. Combine Advantage+ campaigns with more tailored manual campaigns that use custom audiences. This helps retain some control while still benefiting from AI-driven optimization.

2. A/B Test AI Creatives: Run experiments comparing traditional creatives with AI-generated variations. Analyze metrics like engagement and conversion quality to find the best mix for your brand.

3. Avoid iOS In-App Boosting: Always schedule and manage ads on desktop or non-iOS devices to avoid the 30% service fee imposed by Apple. This small change could lead to significant cost savings over time.

4. Monitor and Adjust: Leverage Meta’s reporting tools to track not only overall campaign performance but also qualitative metrics like lead quality and customer engagement. When performance dips, be ready to reintroduce manual tweaks or adjust bid caps.

5. Feed the AI with Quality Data: Ensure you use high-quality product catalogs, clean audience data, and clear conversion events. The more accurate your input, the better Meta’s algorithms can optimize for desirable outcomes.

6. Stay Educated and Test Often: With rapid platform updates, keep learning from Meta’s Business Help Center, industry newsletters, and case studies. Experiment on a small scale before committing significant portions of your ad budget.

Conclusion

Meta’s 2025 ad updates mark a transformative era where AI and automation are front and center. While the promise of improved efficiency and creative prowess is enticing, it comes with challenges like reduced manual control and potential brand consistency risks. The key for smaller advertisers is to strike a balance: embrace the benefits of AI while retaining enough oversight to ensure your brand stays true to its vision.

By experimenting with hybrid campaigns, carefully testing AI-generated assets, and keeping a close eye on performance metrics, you can harness the power of Meta’s new technology to deliver meaningful results—even on a limited budget.

Need strategic advice on how to navigate these changes? We’re here to help.

Read our TL/DR on Meta Changes for Smaller Brands.

Disclaimer: This blog post was crafted using human-prompts and editing in Chat-GPT Pro. We used Chat GPT's Deep Research tool to gather data from more than 12 sources to inform our point of view, and then our media strategist reviewed the recommendations and refined them to align with our expertise and experience as human operators.

Sources:

Roar Digital – “2025 Meta Ad Targeting Driven by AI” (Feb 5, 2025) – Overview of Meta’s move to AI-driven targeting and removal of manual controls (Meta Advantage + Catalog ads: What's new in 2025)

Jon Loomer Digital – “Audience Types Going Away for Advantage+ Catalog Ads” (2024) – Explanation of Advantage+ catalog change and how to replicate old targeting via custom audiences (Audience Types Going Away for Advantage+ Catalog Ads - Jon Loomer Digital)

Relevance Advisors – “Meta’s Advantage+ Features: What’s New in 2025” (Feb 18, 2025) – Noting expansion of Advantage+ to leads and introduction of Opportunity Score; 10% lead cost improvement stat (Meta’s Advantage+ Features: What’s New in 2025 | Relevance Advisors)

Search Engine Land – “Meta simplifies Advantage+ campaign setup, adds leads campaigns” (Feb 7, 2025) – Announcement of streamlined Advantage+ setup across all campaigns and Advantage+ Leads launch (Meta simplifies Advantage+ campaign setup, adds leads campaigns)

Madgicx Blog – “Meta Generative AI: New Features for Ads” (June 14, 2024) – Details on Meta’s AI creative tools (background generation, text variations, Llama 3 model) (Meta Generative AI: New Features for Ads ✨)

Meta Newsroom – “Expanding GenAI Transparency for Meta’s Ads Products” by Pedro Pavón (Feb 3, 2025) – Meta’s policy on labeling AI-generated ad content, and how the labels appear to users (Expanding GenAI Transparency for Meta’s Ads Products | Meta) (Expanding GenAI Transparency for Meta’s Ads Products | Meta).

Engineering at Meta – “Meta Andromeda: Next-gen Personalized Ads Retrieval” (Dec 2, 2024) – Technical deep dive into Andromeda system; notes on +6% recall and +8% ads quality improvement with new ML infrastructure (Meta Andromeda: Supercharging Advantage+ automation with the next-gen personalized ads retrieval engine - Engineering at Meta).

illumin (AcuityAds) – “Meta adds more AI-powered ad updates” by Chris Yu (Mar 27, 2025) – Recap of Shoptalk announcements: Andromeda intro, AI in Advantage+ (omnichannel, generative AI use cases like background generation, etc.) (Meta adds more AI-powered ad updates | illumin)

The Verge – “Meta is passing on the Apple tax for boosted posts to advertisers” by Emma Roth (Feb 15, 2024) – Explains Apple’s 30% fee on iOS in-app boosts and Meta’s response urging web purchase to avoid the fee (Meta to charge extra for boosted posts on Instagram, Facebook after Apple change | The Verge)

Foxwell Digital – “AI and Creative for Meta Ads in 2025: A Definitive Guide” by Courtney Fritts (Mar 19, 2025) – Discussion on how AI is used in ad creative and its limitations; notes on consumer perception of AI-generated creatives (AI and Creative for Meta Ads in 2025: A Definitive Guide — Foxwell Digital).

Feedonomics – “How to fix image cropping for Meta Advantage+ catalog ads” (Aug 5, 2024) – Tips for optimizing catalog images (size requirements, using Meta’s image tools) (How to fix image cropping for Meta Advantage+ catalog ads | Feedonomics™)

Common Thread Collective – “How Facebook Ads & Cost Controls are Evolving with Andromeda in 2025” (Mar 28, 2025) – Insights on Meta’s AI advancements (Andromeda, Advantage+ default) and the fading role of manual bidding ( How Facebook Ads & Cost Controls are Evolving with Andromeda in 2025)