What are zombie ads, and how do you find them?

Where zombie ads come from

Creator content is licensed for a window: usually 30, 60 or 90 days of paid usage, sometimes 6 or 12 months. That date lives in a contract or a spreadsheet. The ad lives in Ads Manager. Nothing connects the two.

So the ad keeps running when the window closes, for ordinary reasons:

• A winning ad was duplicated into new ad sets or campaigns, and only the original was turned off.
• The video was downloaded and re-uploaded as a new creative, so it no longer looks like a partnership ad.
• The person who negotiated the license left, or the agency handed the account over.
• An evergreen or Advantage+ campaign kept the best performer running long after anyone looked at it.

Why turning off the partnership doesn't fix it

Removing a creator's partnership permission, or letting it expire, stops new partnership ads from being made with their handle. It doesn't find copies of their video that were uploaded as ordinary creatives, and it doesn't tell you which of your live ads are covered by which contract.

The only reliable check is to compare every live ad against the license that authorizes it: the creator, the specific asset, the channels and the end date.

What a zombie ad costs

Creators can see your ads. Meta's Ad Library is public, and creators increasingly search it for their own videos. When they find one running past its window, the usual outcome is an invoice for every extra month, often at a higher rate than a renewal negotiated in advance.

Published 2026 rate data puts extensions at roughly 60–75% of the original usage fee when a campaign is already live. Past-the-window use is a weaker negotiating position than that, and it can sour a creator relationship you'd rather keep.

How to find zombie ads by hand

If you have a handful of creators and one ad account, a manual audit works:

• Export your rights sheet with one row per licensed asset: creator, asset, channels, start date, end date.
• In Ads Manager, filter to active ads and list every ad that uses creator content, including duplicates and re-uploads.
• For each ad, find the matching license row. Treat the end date as the last day the ad may run.
• Flag three groups: expired licenses, licenses ending in the next 14 days, and ads with no license at all.
• Pause or renew the expired ones today, and start renewal conversations for the rest.

How to stop them coming back

A one-time audit goes stale the next time someone duplicates an ad. The fix is a check that runs on its own: every live ad, matched to its license, on a schedule, with a heads-up before a window closes. That's the job Lapse does, using read-only access to your Meta ad accounts.

Common questions

Are zombie ads illegal?

Running content past the licensed window usually breaches the usage terms of your agreement with the creator. What that means for you depends on the contract and where you operate, so ask a lawyer about your situation. Practically, it most often ends in an invoice for the extra time.

Does Meta warn you when a creator's license ends?

No. Meta can let a creator put an expiry date on a partnership ad permission, but it doesn't know your contract terms, and it can't see licensed videos you uploaded as ordinary creatives.

How often should we check?

Whenever ads change, which for most paid-social teams is daily. At minimum, check before every license end date in your rights sheet.

Do zombie ads happen on TikTok too?

Yes. Spark Ads and re-uploaded creator videos have the same problem. This guide focuses on Meta because that's where most creator ad spend runs today.