Ad analyzer
Video ad analysis, frame by frame
You know which ad won. Playhead reads the ad and says how it is built. The hook, and how it reaches a viewer. Every beat, with its start and its end. Every claim, quoted at the second it is legible. The numbers are counted off the file, never estimated.
A real analysis, of a real ad.
Four ads for AG1 and AG1 Pro, read as one set on 6 September 2026. Every frame below is a frame the engine read. Every number is that run's own, and nothing is rounded. Pick an ad on the left, then press any second and the ad opens there.
Each ad on its own clock
Ad 1 of 4 · studio · ugc · 9:16
4 ads
1AG1 Routine & Trust Verification Bumper
Opens on
A man in a shirt scoops green powder into an AG1 shaker bottle on a counter.
2AG1 Pro Launch Fast-Paced Fitness Montage
Opens on
A hand unzips a green bag to reveal AG1 Pro daily nutrition packets.
3AG1 Pro Launch Announcement
Opens on
A hand holds up two green AG1 Pro stick packets against a backdrop of bright pink flowers with text overlay.
4AG1 Routine and Offer Demonstration
Opens on
Shirtless man wearing an orange hat leaning against a kitchen counter with an AG1 canister in front of him.
The advertisements are somebody else's, shown here as the subject of an analysis.
See the whole set, with the grid across all four →One ad, 34 fields, the same fields every time.
The same fields every time is what makes a set countable. Read ten ads, and the hook of each one is one of fifteen kinds, so you can count how many use which. A tool that writes a paragraph for each ad gives you ten paragraphs to read.
- The hook
- One of 15 kinds, and the channels it arrives on: the picture, the speech, the text on the screen, the sound. A viewer with the sound off gets only the channels that are not speech.
- The beats
- 7 names, from hook to ask. Each beat carries a start and an end, in seconds, read off a frame.
- Every claim
- Quoted word for word, with a second at which it is legible. Every price, percentage and disclaimer as well. Each one is read at full resolution first.
- The offer
- What the ad gives somebody for acting now: a discount, a bundle, a free trial. Empty when it gives nothing, which is the ordinary case. A web address is an ask, not an offer.
- The ask
- The call to action, word for word, with the seconds it stands on the screen and how often it repeats.
- The proof
- 10 kinds, from a testimonial to a before and after. Each one with the second it lands at.
- The sound
- Whether the ad still works with the sound off, and the evidence for the answer. This is a placement constraint, not a judgement.
- What transfers
- Two lists. One holds what carries to your next product: the structure, the pace, the shape of the promise. The other holds what belongs to this ad alone: this face, this price, this season.
A number is counted, never guessed.
Ask a model to count the cuts and it writes down a guess. These numbers come off the file itself, frame by frame, before any model sees a picture.
- How long the ad runs
- How many cuts, and how many a second
- The shortest shot, the median shot and the longest
- The second the product is first visible, and the second it is first named
- The second the brand mark first appears
- The second the first face appears
- The second the first word is said, and the second the first word is on the screen
It cannot see your performance, and it says so.
A video file holds no spend, no ROAS, no hook rate and no retention curve. What it holds is the composition. So Playhead reports the composition and quotes your numbers beside it. It never invents one. That is also why the answer to "why did this ad win" is read off a set and not off one file.
Paste your winners. Add a control.
Mark the ads that won. Add one or two that did not. Every ad is read on its own first, then one grid puts the same question to all of them. A yellow bar marks the rows where they do not agree, and those rows are the answer. Up to ten ads in one set.
An analysis is saved. Ask it a new question tomorrow and no video is opened again, so the answer costs almost nothing.
What people ask before they paste the first ad.
- How do I analyse a video ad?
- Paste the link. Playhead fetches the ad, watches it, and fills 34 fields about it: the hook, the beats, the claims, the offer, the ask and the proof, each with the second it happens at. The cuts and the pace are counted off the file. The analysis is saved, so a question about it tomorrow opens no video and costs almost nothing.
- Can a tool tell me why my ad won?
- From a set, yes. One file on its own cannot: a video holds no spend, no ROAS and no retention curve. What it holds is the composition, and that is measured, down to the pace and the second of every claim. So mark the ads that won, add two that did not, and the answer is what the winners share and the others do not.
- Can I analyse an ad from the Meta Ad Library?
- Yes. Paste the library link and it is read like any other ad. A competitor's reel, a TikTok, a YouTube video, a landing page hero and a file on your own disk all work the same way.
- Does it work on a UGC ad?
- Yes. How the ad was made is one of the fields it fills: user generated, studio, animation, a screen recording, or mixed. It reads that off the picture, never off the platform the ad ran on.
- How many ads can I compare at once?
- Ten in one set. Every ad is read on its own first, so a set of ten is ten readings and one grid across them. Add a set later and the same fields stack.
- Do I need an account to try it?
- No. Paste an ad on the home page and the first analysis runs without one. An account keeps what it made, and it is free: 50,000 credits a month, with no card.