Who advertises here,and what stands out?
Type a niche. The radar measures who advertises there, the dominant formats, calls to action and offer language, so you see competition and gaps before you enter.
Rather hand the job over? In our Competitor & Market Intelligence service we run this tool for you; scope and monthly price are published.
Competitive intelligence servicesWhat ad data tells you in niche research
A niche is a narrow group of buyers with a specific need. Before entering one, the question is usually the same: who is trying to reach these buyers, with what message and what offer? An ad archive is the fastest place to read that answer.
- Ad data shows which brands spend money in the niche, which pages they send traffic to and what they say.
- Ad data shows how often a format, call to action or offer repeats across the niche.
- Ad data does not show units sold, profit or which ad actually made money.
What Niche Radar measures
| Section | What it shows | Base for the percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising brands | Ads per brand, share, main format, average run time | All scanned ads |
| Landing pages | Which product or page the budget flows to | Ads with a known destination |
| Format mix | Share of video, image, carousel, dynamic and catalogue ads | Ads with a known format |
| Call-to-action mix | Share of buttons such as Shop now, Learn more, Sign up | Ads with a known CTA |
| Message angles | Emotion and topic tags that repeat across ads | Ads with known topics |
| Offer language | Discount, free shipping, bundle, trial and returns, urgency, gift | Ads whose text was read |
| Most common openers | First lines that repeat in ad copy | Ads whose text was read |
| Creative examples | Up to 12 ads that have an image | Ads that came with an image |
How the competition score is calculated
The competition score runs from 0 to 10 and has two equal halves. One looks at how many brands advertise in the niche; the other at how evenly the ads are spread across those brands.
- Brand count: one brand scores zero on this half, 20 or more brands score full marks.
- Spread: each brand's ad share is squared and the squares are added up. A total near 1 means one brand holds the market; near zero means it is spread out.
- A score of 7 or more reads as high, 4 to 7 as medium and under 4 as low competition.
| Situation | Score | What to think |
|---|---|---|
| Many brands, share spread out | High | A crowded market; look for your angle in the gaps |
| Few brands, most share in one | Low | Few rivals, but one player may own the space |
| Few brands, share spread out | Medium or low | Possibly early or small; the sample is small |
A niche scan, step by step
- 1Type a niche
Pick an example niche or use a suggestion from your catalogue.
- 2Choose platforms
Filter by Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and X.
- 3Scan
Up to 60 ads and 30 brand records are read.
- 4Read the summary
The metrics strip, market summary and detail tabs open.
- 5Save or send
Save the niche and send an ad you like to the content pool.
Saved niches and recent searches stay on the entry screen. When you scan the same niche again, the change in brand and ad counts versus the previous scan is shown; on the first scan that line does not appear.
Where competitors leave gaps
The radar shows two kinds of gap: a value nobody in the niche uses, and a value used in under 10% of the measured ads. It looks across four axes: format, call to action, offer language and message angle.
- If no one in the niche runs carousels, carousel is listed as “not used”.
- If free shipping appears in only a small share of ad copy, it is listed as “rarely used”.
- No gap is drawn from an axis that could not be measured; missing data is not a gap.
Who it suits, and where it stops
- E-commerce brands that want to size up a category before entering without opening competitor ads one by one.
- Performance teams hunting for a creative angle in a niche; an ad you like lands in the content pool with its measured reason.
- To follow individual competitor ads over time, use the ad library; to validate single products, use winning product hunt.
- A scan is a sample: it reads the first 60 ads the archive returns, not every ad in the niche.
You can also browse competitor ads one by one on the platforms' own transparency pages; the Google Ads Transparency Center, for example, lists Google ads by advertiser. The radar's difference is turning the same kind of data into counts and shares.
Frequently asked questions
How do you do niche research?
Start with a narrow audience that has a specific need, then look at who is already reaching it and with what message. Niche Radar measures that second step from an ad archive: brand count, competition score, main formats and gaps.
What data does Niche Radar use?
It reads up to 60 ads and 30 brand records from a live ad archive that match your keyword. If the archive is not connected, the screen says so and returns no result.
How is the competition score calculated?
Half comes from the number of advertising brands, half from how evenly ad share is spread across them. Spread is measured with the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index.
Can I see competitors' sales?
No. The radar reads ad data; it does not show units sold, revenue or profit. An ad that runs for a long time is a signal, not proof of sales.
Which platforms can I filter by?
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and X. If you pick none, every platform in the archive is scanned.
How do I use an ad I find?
Send it to your content pool as an idea. The measured reason from the scan travels with it; nobody types the reason by hand.
Which plan includes Niche Radar?
Niche Radar needs the E-Commerce Plus add-on (included in E-Commerce Plus plans). The brand's setup model must be E-commerce · Local Market or E-commerce+ · Cross-border. Add-ons and prices are on the pricing page.
Sources
The official documentation behind the technical points on this page:
- [1]Shopify: What is a niche market
Definition of a niche market and how to evaluate niche ideas.
- [2]US Department of Justice: Herfindahl-Hirschman Index
Market concentration measured by summing squared shares.
- [3]Google Ads Transparency Center
Public listing of Google ads by advertiser.
- [4]TikTok Creative Center: Top Ads
Where top-performing TikTok ads can be browsed by industry.
Related pages
- Ad libraryFollow competitor ads from one panel over time.
- Winning product huntGo from niche to product and validate items one by one.
- Competitive intelligenceHand competitor tracking and analysis to our team.
- Content poolCollect the ideas the radar surfaces in one place.
- Today's WinnersToday's Winners shows 6 product ideas a day, picked from a pool our team curates by hand; the list stays the same all day.
- Market IntelligenceType a topic, product or category and get search demand, competition, demand trend and competitor ads back in one decision file.
Don't enter a niche blind.
Niche Radar needs the E-Commerce Plus add-on (included in E-Commerce Plus plans). The brand's setup model must be E-commerce · Local Market or E-commerce+ · Cross-border.