Pet Brand Ads That Last: Data From 1,320 Long-Running Meta Ads
Pet ads run longer than any other industry we track: a median of 72 days. What 1,320 long-running pet ads in Europe show about copy, hooks and who is advertising.
adthief.ai · · 5 min read
Pet owners are a loyal audience. They buy the same food, the same treats and the same supplements for years, and they talk about their animals the way parents talk about their children. You can see that loyalty in the ad data: pet ads keep running longer than ads in any other industry we track.
This post looks at 1,320 pet ads from 583 brands that each ran for at least 60 days in Europe. It covers how long they run, how they speak to the reader, and a copy-length result that is unlike any other category.
How the data was built
- Source: Meta's public Ad Library, collected every night by adthief.ai.
- Which ads: ads shown in Europe that had been running for 60 days or more, found through searches for pet food, treats, supplements, toys and accessories. One record per creative.
- Snapshot: 31 October 2026. The full archive holds 9,839 ads from 5,185 brands; 1,320 are in pets.
As always with this kind of data: every ad is a survivor, so we see winners, not the share of ads that win. Meta publishes no spend or sales for commercial ads, so a long run stands in for "profitable". And categories overlap. Pet food brands also show up in our food and drink set, and pet supplement brands in the supplement set.
Pets at a glance
| Measure | Pets | Range in the other five industries |
|---|---|---|
| Median days running | 72 | 66 to 68 |
| Ran six months or more | 16% | 14% to 17% |
| Longest run | 766 days | 549 to 968 days |
| Median words in the post text | 76 | 33 to 86 |
| Ads with at least one emoji | 59% | 63% to 67% |
| Ads per brand | 2.3 | 1.6 to 2.0 |
Three things set pets apart:
- The longest median run. 72 days, against 66 to 68 in every other industry.
- The fewest emoji. 59% of pet ads use one, the lowest share of the six industries.
- Fewer, more active brands. 583 brands for 1,320 ads: about 2.3 long-running ads per brand, the highest of any industry. Pet advertisers that find a format tend to make several ads in it.
Finding 1: Pet ads talk to "you"
| First line contains | Pets | Whole archive |
|---|---|---|
| "You" | 36% | 30% |
| An emoji | 43% | 47% |
| A number | 19% | 20% |
| A question | 13% | 16% |
| Urgency | 11% | 10% |
| A percentage off | 2% | 4% |
| Reviews or ratings | 2% | 1% |
More than a third of long-running pet ads address the reader directly in the first line, the highest share of any industry. That makes sense: the ad is about your dog's digestion, your cat's coat, your walk tomorrow morning. The owner is the buyer, but the animal is the reason.
Discounts are at their rarest here. Only 2% of pet ads open with a percentage off. For a product people buy again and again, the long-running ads sell trust and fit, not a one-off deal.
What to do with it: write the first line about the owner's daily life with the animal. Name the pet type, the situation and the worry.
Finding 2: Both short and long copy work
| Copy length | Ads | Median days |
|---|---|---|
| Short (under 30 words) | 285 | 101 |
| Medium (30 to 99 words) | 473 | 66 |
| Long (100+ words) | 562 | 72 |
This is the strangest result in the pet data. Long copy is the most common format, and it runs longer than medium copy (72 days against 66). But the small group of short-copy pet ads had run a median of 101 days, the longest median of any copy-length group in any industry we track.
One reading: there are two kinds of pet ad that work. A long one that explains a problem (a health issue, a behaviour, a diet change), and a short one where the animal on screen does the selling. The medium version, neither one nor the other, has the shortest runs. We can't prove that from this data alone, and 285 ads is not a large group, but it is a pattern worth testing.
What to do with it: for each product, make one long, explaining ad and one very short ad built around a strong clip of an animal. Skip the in-between.
Finding 3: The UK dominates
| Main market | Ads | Brands | Median days | Six months+ | Median words | Emoji |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The UK | 910 | 363 | 69 | 14% | 95 | 54% |
| Germany | 120 | 74 | 76 | 12% | 54 | 80% |
Nearly seven in ten long-running pet ads in our archive reach mainly the UK. Germany is second, with 120. Pet advertising on Meta in Europe is, for now, largely a British story.
The UK and German styles are far apart. UK pet ads have a median of 95 words, and only 54% use emoji, less than any other industry in the UK. German pet ads have 54 words and 80% emoji. If you sell in both, these are effectively two different ads, not one ad in two languages.
You can see both sets at pet ads in the UK and pet ads in Germany.
Who advertises
The pages with the most long-running pet ads are Mersey Raw (29 ads), Healthy Petz Co (29), Feline Institute of Health (25), We Love Pets (21, longest 196 days), Canine Stress Research Institute (17, longest 266 days) and Martha Rodgers (14, longest 156 days).
Two formats are visible in that list: product brands advertising under their own name, and pages named like an institute or a person, which lead with information before the product. Both sit among the most active pet advertisers, and both have ads past five months.
What to do with this
- Expect longer runs. Pet ads that work keep working. Plan fewer replacements and add new tests next to proven ads.
- Write to the owner. "You" opens more pet ads than any other industry. Talk about their day with the animal.
- Go long or go short. Long explaining copy is the most common; very short copy had the longest runs. Test both.
- Separate UK and German versions. Different length, different emoji habits.
- Local pet businesses can borrow the pattern. A groomer, a pet shop or a vet clinic can use the same "you and your dog" opening, with the town in the first line.
For how first lines differ across all industries, see ad hook patterns in long-running ads.
Want to see which pet brands you are up against? The free competitor check puts their ads and reviews next to yours.