The ad formula for every category
The seven beats are universal. How long each one runs is not. Here is the structure for all 20 decoded verticals, with the time allocation that actually applies to yours.
Verticals
20
Ads decoded
265
Widest Delivery
25% · Cleaning
Widest Context
23% · SaaS
Key takeaways
20 verticals decoded from 265 winning video ads, all scored against the same seven beats.
Cleaning gives Delivery the largest share of any category at 25%; SaaS gives Context the largest at 23%.
Kids & Parenting runs the smallest Opening in the study at 9% — recognition, not interruption, carries that vertical.
Runtime ranges from 24 seconds (TikTok-native commerce) to 51 seconds (info products) — category, not platform, sets the length.
Browse
All 20 categories
Sorted by sample size. Each tag names the beat that vertical over-invests in relative to the cross-category average.
Health & Supplements
How supplement ads spend their seconds — ritual-heavy context, mechanism-led delivery and closes engineered to dodge claim fatigue.
Beauty & Skincare
Texture-first structure — beauty ads compress Tension and let macro shots of product physics carry the whole Delivery beat.
Food & Beverage
Appetite appeal front-loaded — food ads open harder than any other vertical and convert taste curiosity into identity.
Fashion & Apparel
Fit is the argument — apparel ads stretch Validation because seeing the garment on many bodies is the size chart.
Fitness & Wellness
Data as drama — wearables and wellness ads spend heavy Context building the quantified-self story their dashboards resolve.
Home & Lifestyle
Problem theater — home ads dramatize the mess, then let one satisfying demo resolve it in an oversized Delivery beat.
Info Products
Credibility is the whole sale — info-product ads run long and spend the runtime earning the right to make an offer.
SaaS & Software
Workflow pain to competence restoration — software ads carry the heaviest Context load and close with redirects, not offers.
Cleaning
The most Delivery-dominant vertical in the study — one satisfying transformation carries the entire ad.
Tech & Gadgets
Novelty opens the door and decays fastest — tech ads front-load the surprise and spend Delivery justifying it.
Automotive
The longest consideration cycle in the study — automotive ads spend their runtime on credibility that has to survive months of deliberation.
Finance
The highest Validation share in the study — finance ads have to prove before they can propose.
EdTech
Two audiences in one ad — EdTech carries a heavy Validation beat because the person paying is rarely the person learning.
Sports
An equipment-literate audience — sports ads need a visible mechanical difference, not a performance promise.
Other Categories
The cross-category control group — products that map to no standard retail vertical, sitting close to the study-wide average.
Pets
Emotion carries structure — pet ads open on the animal, build guilt-relief tension and validate with transformation stories.
CBD & Wellness
The tightest claim constraints in the study — CBD ads build belief through implication and routine rather than through stated outcomes.
Travel
The smallest Tension beat in the study — travel does not need a problem, it needs a place and a reason to act now.
Jewelry
Meaning outsells material — jewelry carries the largest Shift beat in the study because the purchase is symbolic.
Kids & Parenting
The smallest Opening and the largest back half in the study — parenting ads earn attention through recognition, not interruption.
Side by side
Beat allocation across every category
Percentage of runtime per beat. The baseline row is the cross-category average all efficiency ratios are measured against.
| Category | Opening | Context | Tension | Delivery | Validation | Shift | Close | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All categories | 14.8% | 19.6% | 12.4% | 20.9% | 12.2% | 10.6% | 9.5% | 46s |
| Health & Supplements | 15% | 20% | 12% | 21% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 38s |
| Beauty & Skincare | 16% | 18% | 13% | 22% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 32s |
| Food & Beverage | 18% | 17% | 11% | 23% | 11% | 11% | 9% | 29s |
| Fashion & Apparel | 17% | 19% | 11% | 21% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 34s |
| Fitness & Wellness | 14% | 21% | 13% | 20% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 41s |
| Home & Lifestyle | 15% | 21% | 11% | 22% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 36s |
| Info Products | 16% | 19% | 14% | 19% | 13% | 10% | 9% | 51s |
| SaaS & Software | 13% | 23% | 12% | 21% | 12% | 11% | 8% | 44s |
| Cleaning | 17% | 16% | 12% | 25% | 11% | 10% | 9% | 28s |
| Tech & Gadgets | 18% | 17% | 11% | 23% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 34s |
| Automotive | 14% | 21% | 12% | 20% | 14% | 10% | 9% | 49s |
| Finance | 13% | 20% | 14% | 19% | 16% | 10% | 8% | 46s |
| EdTech | 14% | 20% | 13% | 19% | 15% | 10% | 9% | 43s |
| Sports | 16% | 18% | 12% | 22% | 14% | 9% | 9% | 35s |
| Other Categories | 15% | 20% | 12% | 21% | 12% | 11% | 9% | 44s |
| Pets | 17% | 18% | 12% | 22% | 12% | 10% | 9% | 39s |
| CBD & Wellness | 15% | 22% | 13% | 20% | 11% | 11% | 8% | 37s |
| Travel | 19% | 20% | 9% | 22% | 10% | 11% | 9% | 38s |
| Jewelry | 16% | 19% | 11% | 21% | 11% | 13% | 9% | 33s |
| Kids & Parenting | 9% | 14% | 11% | 22% | 15% | 16% | 13% | 40s |
Bold marks each category's highest-efficiency beat — where it spends most relative to the cross-category average.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the ad formula change by category?
Because the buying friction sits somewhere different. Cleaning buyers already own the problem, so their ads spend a quarter of the runtime on the demonstration. Software buyers cannot see their problem until it is named, so their ads spend a quarter on Context. Same seven beats, redistributed to whatever the category actually has to overcome.
Which category has the most unusual structure?
Kids & Parenting, by a wide margin. It runs the smallest Opening of any vertical at 9% — roughly half the cross-category average — and the largest back half. Recognition replaces interruption, because the audience is not looking to be startled and the purchase is made on someone else's behalf.
My category isn't listed — what do I use?
Start with Other Categories, which sits within a point of the cross-category baseline on every beat. Then move runtime toward whichever beat matches your real friction: more Context if the problem is invisible, more Validation if the claim is hard to believe, more Delivery if the mechanism is the argument.
Should I copy my category's allocation exactly?
No. Treat it as a centre of gravity rather than a target — no decoded winner in any vertical actually sits on its category's mean. The allocation tells you where the category's successful ads concentrate their effort, which is the right place to start testing, not the place to stop.
Explore more
Ad Blueprint
The 7-beat structure and how it was decoded.
By Persona
The same structure read through who is running the ads.
Ad Hook Library
24 opening hooks ranked by share of decoded winning ads.
Brand Playbook
How top D2C brands structure the ads they actually scale.
Ad Formula Teardowns
Single ads reverse-engineered beat by beat, frame by frame.
Ad Behaviour & Psychology
The persuasion mechanisms underneath winning creative.
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