> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.whop.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Advertising > Run paid ad campaigns on external networks through Whop, with the ad account, attribution, and billing handled for you. Advertising lets you buy ads on networks like Meta from your Whop account. Whop owns the ad account, the review and launch path, and the billing relationship. You create a campaign through the API instead of connecting an ad account you manage yourself. ## What you can build * **Run campaigns** on Meta, with an objective, a budget, and a schedule. * **Target an audience** by location, demographics, interests, devices, and languages, or upload a customer list as an [audience](/api-reference/beta/audiences/audience). * **Generate creatives** as AI images or video from a prompt, supply your own assets, or promote a post that already exists on a connected social account. * **Read attributed performance**: spend, results, cost per result, and return on ad spend, all on the campaign object itself. ## Before you spend Three things gate a live ad, and all three are one-time setup: * **A Facebook page** for ads to run under. [`GET /social_accounts`](/api-reference/beta/social-accounts/list-social-accounts) must return a `facebook` entry. * **A payment method** connected in the dashboard, either your Whop balance or a card. Drafts work without one. * **The Whop pixel** on your destination, unless you send traffic to a whop.com store page. Any external landing page needs [the pixel](/developer/ads/pixel) first. The [Ads API overview](/api-reference/beta/ads/overview) covers each of these with the exact calls, the required scopes, and the error strings you get when one is missing. ## Core objects Ad campaign, ad group, ad, audience. Each is defined in [Core Concepts](/developer/concepts). Advertising has one hierarchy, and every object belongs to the level above it. Holds the objective, the platform, and the budget strategy. See [Ad Campaigns](/api-reference/beta/ad-campaigns/ad-campaign). Holds targeting, the optimization goal, the schedule, and its own budget by default. See [Ad Groups](/api-reference/beta/ad-groups/ad-group). Holds the creatives, the copy variants, the call to action, and the destination URL. See [Ads](/api-reference/beta/ads/ad). [`POST /ads`](/api-reference/beta/ads/create-an-ad) accepts an inline `ad_group`, which accepts an inline `ad_campaign`, so one request creates the whole tree in a single transaction. Pass `ad_group_id` instead to attach the ad to an ad group that already exists. To launch later rather than now, set `status` to `draft` on the inline `ad_campaign`, then activate it with [`PATCH /ad_campaigns/{id}`](/api-reference/beta/ad-campaigns/update-an-ad-campaign). Budget lives at exactly one level, never both: on the ad group by default, or on the campaign when you set `budget_optimization` to `ad_campaign`. ## How results are counted Every performance number Whop reports is attributed by the **Whop pixel**, not by the ad network. `result_event` names the conversion event a campaign is judged on, and `results` is the pixel-attributed count of it. `cost_per_result` divides spend by that count. When a campaign's ad groups optimize toward different goals there's no single `result_event`, so it's `null` and `results` becomes the sum of each ad group's own attributed results. When nothing Whop-attributable is being optimized for, both are `null` rather than zero. ## Paying for ads Spend accrues as ads deliver and is charged afterward. The `spend` field on a campaign is the amount charged to you, in `spend_currency`. A campaign whose payment fails stops delivering and reports `payment_failed`. [Retry a Failed Ad Campaign Payment](/api-reference/beta/ad-campaigns/retry-a-failed-ad-campaign-payment) resumes it once the payment method works. AI creative generation bills from your balance rather than from ad spend. Too little balance returns a `402` carrying a `deposit_url`. ## Why a campaign isn't delivering `delivery_status` answers this directly. It's the first field to read when a campaign exists but nothing is happening. Several states can be true at once, so the value is the highest one on this ladder: | `delivery_status` | What it means | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `payment_failed` | Billing failed, so delivery stopped | | `all_ads_rejected` | Every ad in the campaign was rejected | | `draft` | Not submitted for delivery | | `no_ad_groups` | The campaign has no ad groups | | `no_ads` | The campaign has no ads in any group | | `paused` | You paused the campaign | | `processing` | The campaign hasn't reached the ad network, or every ad group is still processing | | `issues` | The campaign has open issues, or every ad has one. Read the `issues` array | | `scheduled` | The campaign's start is in the future, or every ad group is waiting for its own start | | `completed` | The campaign's end time has passed. A campaign with no end never completes | | `ad_groups_off` | Every ad group is paused | | `active` | Delivering | Ads and ad groups carry their own `delivery_status` with different values. A new ad passes through `in_review` before it delivers. ## Where to go next The full flow, from creative to live ad, in two calls. Required before results can be attributed. Upload a customer list to target or exclude. Every advertising endpoint, with a playground.