Static vs Video on Meta: What a Creative Format Audit Found
On Mira Mikati’s Meta account, 73% of spend was going on static creative while video was returning 4.7×. Nobody had chosen that split on purpose. It only became visible once I started reporting performance by creative format, and it changed the brand’s 2026 creative production plan.
This post covers how that came about and how you can run the same check on your own account.
The account
Mira Mikati is a premium UK fashion brand selling direct to consumer across the UK, EU and US. Over 14 months I managed £73,629 of spend, which drove £213,837 in tracked revenue at a 2.9× blended ROAS. Average order value rose from £541 to £621, up 15%.
On Meta, I built a full funnel:
- Prospecting across the UK, US and EU
- Retargeting, which ran at 4.5× ROAS
- Dynamic product catalogue ads fed from Shopify
Alongside that I defended the brand on Google Search and moved Google Shopping into Performance Max with feed-led optimisation.
Why the format split was hidden
Most Meta reporting is organised by campaign and ad set, because that is how Ads Manager is laid out. Creative format cuts across that structure. A static image and a video can sit in the same ad set, competing for the same budget, and the campaign-level number blends them together.
So the account-level picture looked fine. ROAS was healthy, retargeting was strong, and nothing was flashing red. What you could not see was that the bulk of the money was going to one format while a different format was quietly doing better per pound.
What format-level reporting showed
I built monthly reporting that reconciled Meta, Google and Shopify revenue, and added a creative-format breakdown to it. That meant every ad was tagged by format and its spend and revenue were rolled up by that tag each month.
The finding was simple:
- 73% of Meta spend was on static creative
- Video was returning 4.7×
That is not a reason to switch off statics. Static ads are cheap to produce, quick to iterate and often useful for showing a specific product clearly. But it was a clear sign that video was under-supplied relative to how well it was performing, and that the budget split reflected what was easiest to make rather than what worked best.
What changed
The finding went straight into the 2026 creative production plan. Rather than a reporting curiosity, it became a brief for what to shoot and how much of it. More of the production effort moved towards video, so the account had enough video assets to give that format a larger share of spend without running the same few ads into the ground.
The account’s Q1 2026 ROAS was 3.42×.
This is the part I care about most. A format audit is only useful if it changes what gets made. Reports that say “video is doing well” and then lead to the same production schedule next quarter are wasted effort.
How to run a creative format audit on your own Meta account
You do not need special tools for this. You need consistent naming and a spreadsheet.
1. Tag every ad by format
Add the format to every ad name in a fixed position. Something like VID, STA, CAR and DPA for video, static, carousel and dynamic product ads. If you also want to split by concept or angle, add that as a separate tag. Be strict: one format per ad, spelled the same way every time.
For ads already running, rename them. Renaming an ad does not reset its learning.
2. Export ad-level data for a meaningful period
Pull ad-level spend, purchases and purchase value for at least 30 days, ideally 60 to 90. Shorter windows tend to be dominated by one or two ads and do not tell you much about the format as a whole.
3. Group by format
In a spreadsheet, extract the format tag from the ad name and sum spend and revenue for each format. Work out:
- Share of total spend for each format
- ROAS for each format
- Number of ads in each format
The third one matters. If one format has 40 ads and another has three, the three might be your best performers simply because they are the survivors.
4. Reconcile against Shopify
In-platform ROAS overstates performance on most accounts, and it does not do so evenly across formats. I check that the total Meta-attributed revenue sits in a sensible relationship to Shopify revenue before trusting the format split. If you cannot reconcile at all, treat the format comparison as directional rather than exact.
5. Separate prospecting from retargeting
Retargeting and catalogue ads usually show higher ROAS because they reach people who already know the brand. If you lump them in with prospecting, whichever format dominates retargeting will look better than it is. Run the split for prospecting on its own as well.
6. Turn it into a production brief
This is the step people skip. If a format is under-funded and over-performing, the fix is usually not just to move budget. It is to make more of that format, because without new assets the extra budget just raises frequency on the few ads you have.
What to watch out for
- Small samples. A format with £500 of spend is not a reliable read. Wait until each format has enough spend to compare fairly.
- Flexible and dynamic creative. When Meta mixes images and videos inside one ad, the format tag stops being clean. Keep a few ads as single-format so you have a clear comparison.
- Survivor bias. The best ads in a format get the most spend because they are the best ads. Compare formats, not just the top ad in each.
Format reporting is one part of how I run ecommerce accounts. There is more on the wider approach on my ecommerce paid media page.
Want to know where your Meta spend is going?
If you do not know what share of your Meta budget sits on each format, or whether it matches what is actually returning, I can find out for you. Request a free account audit and I will break your creative performance down by format and tell you what I would change.
Questions people ask
Is video or static better on Meta ads?
It depends on the account, which is why you need to measure it. On Mira Mikati, video returned 4.7× while most of the spend sat on static, but the only way to know your own answer is to break results down by format.
How do I see Meta ad performance by creative format?
Tag every ad with its format in the ad name, then export ad-level spend and revenue and group it by that tag. Meta's own breakdowns are not reliable enough for this on their own, especially with flexible or dynamic creative.
What is a creative format audit?
It is a review of how your ad spend and revenue split across formats such as static image, video, carousel and catalogue ads. The aim is to check whether budget is going to the formats that actually return the most.
How often should I review creative format performance?
Monthly is enough for most ecommerce accounts. Format mix changes slowly, and a monthly view gives enough data per format to make a production decision.