Meta’s Andromeda Update Changed Paid Social — What Live Event Marketers Need to Know

﻿In January 2026, Meta completed the rollout of its Andromeda ad delivery system, marking one of the biggest shifts in how advertising works on Facebook and Instagram. This isn't a surface-level update—it fundamentally changes how ads are matched to users, with major implications for live event marketing.﻿

What Changed

﻿For years, paid social relied heavily on detailed interest targeting, targeting fans of a team or artist built up over years in Meta. Since late 2024, Meta has removed or merged hundreds of interest segments, disabled exclusions, and pushed advertisers toward broad, AI-driven delivery via Advantage+.﻿
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﻿Instead of prioritizing who you target, Meta now prioritizes which creative deserves to be shown—based on engagement, behavior, and predictive signals. In short, creative performance has become the primary driver of delivery.﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

Why This Hits Live Events Hard

﻿Live events aren’t selling static products—we’re selling time-sensitive moments: matches, shows, festivals, theme nights. There’s no room for long learning cycles or unfocused delivery. Precision still matters, but the old levers are gone.﻿
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﻿Two immediate impacts stand out:﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

﻿–﻿Creative matters more than ever﻿
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﻿﻿–﻿﻿The amount and variety of content required to stay competitive has increased significantly﻿

﻿﻿﻿Static images and repetitive formats generate weak signals. Meta’s AI now rewards creative diversity—different formats, hooks, messages, and storytelling angles that help the system quickly match content to the right people.﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

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Segments Still Matter—Just Differently

﻿While platform interest targeting has faded, segmentation hasn’t disappeared. It has shifted toward:﻿﻿﻿

–First-party data like past buyers, site visitors, and lead lists﻿
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–Partner-shared audiences such as artist lists and laylo drop signups﻿
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–Lifestyle and genre audiences that reflect real-world behavior﻿﻿﻿

﻿These signals give AI systems meaningful context, rather than forcing them to learn from scratch.﻿

How FanIQ.One Helps Teams Adapt

﻿FanIQ.One was built for this new environment—where creative and audience signals work together.﻿
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﻿FanIQ.One includes a continuously refined library of lifestyle and genre audiences built specifically for live events, covering music, sports, community, and cultural interests. These segments are validated with first-party fan data and real-world behavior to provide stronger starting signals for AI delivery.﻿
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﻿Teams can also activate known fans through past buyers, site visitors, lead lists, artist-shared audiences, and laylo drop signups—some of the strongest inputs available in today’s AI-driven platforms.﻿
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﻿FanIQ.One connects directly to CRM and CDP systems including Hive, Salesforce, HubSpot, Stellar Algo, Fan360, and laylo, creating a clean, unified audience layer across Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google—without manual uploads or workarounds.﻿
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﻿By pairing on-demand, performance-ready content with unified audience management and cross-platform reporting, FanIQ.One helps teams move faster, stay organized, and maintain control as platforms evolve.﻿﻿﻿

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What This Means for 2026

﻿Meta’s Andromeda update doesn’t mean paid social is broken. It means the rules have changed.﻿
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﻿Teams that invest in creative variety, anchor campaigns in strong audience signals, and manage everything through a unified system will find paid social works better than ever.﻿
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﻿With the right approach, AI doesn’t replace strategy—it rewards it.﻿﻿﻿

Meta’s Andromeda Update Changed Paid Social — What Live Event Marketers Need to Know

What Changed

Why This Hits Live Events Hard

Segments Still Matter—Just Differently

How FanIQ.One Helps Teams Adapt

What This Means for 2026

Let’s Discuss What We Can Do For You.