The audience step has two layers. First your genre, who likes your sound. Then the source, how to reach them.
Start with your genre
Every music ad is genre-first. At the top of the audience step, pick the genres your audience actually listens to. Pick your own plus one or two close neighbors, not a dozen. A handful keeps the audience focused; piling on every genre just makes it broad. We target fans of those on Meta, and they pair best with Advantage+. This is your single biggest lever, and it works for every artist, even a brand-new one.
Creator? Same idea, your genre is your content niche (gaming, beauty, comedy, fitness), and we target the people who follow and watch creators like you. Everything else on this page works the same.
Then pick a source
The source is how Meta finds the people to show your ad to. The stars show how strong your data is for each.
- Advantage+ (Meta picks), you give Meta your signals (genre, geo, your fans) and it finds the audience. The simplest strong default, and the best start for a new artist.
- Fans of similar artists, listeners of well-known artists your sound fits. Strong when you have 3+ that Meta tracks. Optional: if Meta doesn't have an artist, we tell you and your genre carries it.
- Your fan list, your email subscribers matched on Meta. Best for re-engaging your catalog. Works at around 1,000+.
- Lookalike of your fans, Meta finds new people who resemble your subscribers. Great for growth at 100+ fans.
- Your SMS subscribers, the people on your text list. Shows up once you have SMS subscribers.
- Your site visitors, people who visited your page, from your pixel. Retargeting.
- Your top cities, where you're already streaming most. Strong for tour dates.
- A saved Meta audience or Custom interests, reuse one you built in Meta, or type your own.
Where (geo)
Leave the Where section blank and we target your main market, the country where your listeners are, not a blanket United States. Set countries, regions, or cities to override.
Reading the reach meter
As you pick a genre and a source, the meter at the bottom shows Meta's live estimate of how many people you could reach, shown as a range. It updates every time you change your targeting, so you watch your audience grow or shrink as you tune.
- Healthy is roughly 20,000 up to a few million people. Big enough for Meta to find listeners who fit, focused enough to spend well.
- Too narrow, under a couple thousand, and Meta may not deliver your ad at all. Add a neighboring genre, widen the location, or switch to Advantage+.
- Too broad, in the tens of millions, and you pay to reach people who scroll right past. Add a genre, a similar artist, or tighten the location.
If it reads "too small to estimate," your audience is tiny, widen it. You don't need a perfect number, land in the healthy band and let Meta optimize from there.
When in doubt
Pick your genre, choose Advantage+ or Lookalike of your fans, leave geo on your main market, and watch the live reach at the bottom. Give it 3 to 4 days, then test a second source against it.