A typical microbrand that advertises ran 44 ads in twelve months and reached 163,000 people in the EU. A typical DTC ad machine in the same period: 409 ads, 13.85 million reach. Grown independents: 427 ads, 3.59 million. Mainstream benchmarks: 409 ads, 1.36 million.
Medians per tier, 251 advertising brands.
What it means
Between a typical microbrand and a typical ad machine lie 85 times the reach. Whoever reads Meta benchmarks from DTC case studies is reading the wrong league.
How it was measured
Meta Ad Library, ads started in the last 365 days, grouped by brand tier. Median ads and median EU reach per tier. 156 microbrands, 31 ad machines, 47 grown independents, 17 mainstream. Read on 19 August 2026.
Who do you compare your reach with: your tier, or the pyramid?
