Meta now offers 15 always-on standard topics in Reels Trending Ads, the format that places an ad immediately after the most-watched and most culturally relevant Reels on Facebook and Instagram. New categories include Home & Garden and Spanish-language content.
Meta announced the update at its Brand Building Summit on 16 October. Alongside the always-on topics, advertisers can choose seasonal lineups built around the holidays and the start of the football and basketball seasons.
Audience Exclusions Arrive Later This Year
Meta is also expanding targeting for the format, including custom audience exclusions later this year. Once they arrive, an advertiser buying placement after trending Reels can leave chosen custom audiences out of the campaign.
A custom audience is a list an advertiser builds from its own data, such as a customer file or people who visited its website. Excluding one stops the campaign from showing ads to the people on that list.
That is the more practical change for buyers. Until now, the main choice in Reels Trending Ads was the moment. Exclusions add a choice about who sees the ad as well.
What Meta Says the Format Delivers
Meta says campaigns that included Reels Trending Ads increased action intent by more than 5 percentage points against control groups with no campaign exposure. It reports an incremental 5 percentage point lift in unaided brand awareness from the same format.
Both figures are Meta's own. They compare people who saw the campaign with people who did not, not Reels Trending Ads with other placements.
A Format Built Out Summit by Summit
Reels Trending Ads have grown in steps. At its Brand Building Summit in September 2025, Meta opened the format to all advertisers globally, after a beta limited to a small group of brands. Meta said then that the format uses AI to place ads directly after top-trending, creator-generated Reels. At its NewFronts presentation in March, Meta added curated lineups tied to events such as Fashion Week, Formula 1, Black Friday and NFL games, plus categories including TV and movies, travel and finance.
This year's update fills in the everyday side of that inventory. Seasonal lineups cover the peaks, and 15 standing topics cover the weeks in between.
The approach is close to TikTok's Pulse family, which places ads beside content already drawing attention. At NewFronts in March, TikTok added Pulse Mentions, which places ads next to real-time conversations about a brand or category, and Pulse Tastemakers, which aligns ads with a curated set of creators.
Meta
TikTokWhat It Means for Advertisers
The reason Meta keeps building on the format is the size of the inventory behind it. Reels make up more than half of all time spent on Instagram, according to the company.
For brands, the topic list works as a map of the moments they can buy into, from Spanish-language content to home and garden. Exclusions, when they arrive, let the same campaign keep chosen audiences out.
The update came on the same day Meta made Ads Super Burst generally available, part of a summit built around brand products for short-form video.
Recap
What are Reels Trending Ads?
Reels Trending Ads place an advertiser's ad immediately after the most-watched and most culturally relevant Reels on Facebook and Instagram. Meta opened the format to all advertisers globally in September 2025.
How do advertisers choose where Reels Trending Ads appear?
Advertisers pick from 15 always-on standard topics, including Home and Garden and Spanish-language content, or from seasonal lineups built around the holidays and the start of the football and basketball seasons.
What changes for Reels Trending Ads later this year?
Meta is adding custom audience exclusions to the format later this year. Brands will be able to leave chosen custom audiences out of campaigns that use Reels Trending Ads.