# Ads

Investigate captured in-answer ad placements without confusing observations with bidding or spend data.

Canonical: https://docs.equalai.io/analytics/ads
Markdown: https://docs.equalai.io/analytics/ads.md

Open **Reports → Ads**. This Beta report describes ad placements captured with tracked answers. It does not connect to an advertiser's bidding account and does not report verified spend, bids, impressions, or clicks.

## Set the scope

1. Choose the date range.
2. Use **All filters** for **Tags**, **Topics**, **Formats**, and **Engines**.
3. Review **Ad presence over time** and **Ad share by advertiser**.
4. Search and sort **Advertisers in your market** to investigate specific advertisers.

The advertiser search narrows that table; it does not redefine all summary cards or the exported filtered placement set.

## Understand the metrics

| Metric | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Ad coverage | Distinct prompts with a captured ad in the filtered rows divided by the project's tracked prompt count |
| Ads in AI answers | Number of captured placement rows, not unique ads or people |
| Ad share | An advertiser's placement count divided by all filtered placements |
| Times seen | Captured placements for the advertiser |
| Creatives | Distinct normalized ad titles in the captured placements |

The ad-coverage numerator responds to report filters, while the denominator remains the project's prompt count. Multiple placements can come from one answer or one advertiser. A captured payload may include an ad that was not visibly rendered; inspect any rendering indicator before claiming the user saw it.

## Read branded-prompt evidence carefully

**Bidding on your brand** lists advertisers whose placements appear for prompts or captured keywords matching your brand aliases. Despite the section title, this does **not** establish that an advertiser purchased your brand keyword or intentionally targeted your business.

Use **Ads by topic** to locate affected question groups, then inspect the prompt and captured answer. Keep observations separate from assumptions about advertiser strategy.

**Export** downloads placement rows in the report's filter scope. An advertiser table search is not an additional export filter.

## Troubleshooting

- **No ads in the window:** no matching placements were captured; this is not proof that the engine never shows ads.
- **Coverage seems lower than expected:** the denominator includes all tracked prompts, not just prompts represented by filtered ad rows.
- **Counts exceed the number of prompts:** one prompt can have multiple placements and repeated runs.
- **A branded match is surprising:** inspect the actual prompt/keyword and your aliases.

## Related guides

[Responses](https://docs.equalai.io/analytics/responses) · [Prompts](https://docs.equalai.io/analytics/prompts) · [Competitors](https://docs.equalai.io/tracking/competitors)