# Know Which Ads to Scale, Rotate or Pause Before They Wear Out

Ad creative performance ranks your ad creatives (the utm_content values on paid leads) and flags the ones wearing out week by week. It answers “which ads are pulling their weight, and which are tiring?” With ad spend connected, it adds cost per lead per creative and the ads that spent without a single lead.

Published Oct 19, 2026. Updated Oct 20, 2026.

## Which of my ads are working and which are wearing out?

It depends on whether you're judging ads or search terms. To rank your ad creatives by the leads they bring and flag the ones tiring week by week, Ad creative performance is the report to run. Type /creative to get it. For search terms instead of ads, use Keyword performance. To model moving budget between channels, the Budget simulator fits better. To see the full path from first visit, pick Customer journeys.

What it is: Ad creative performance is a creative ranking from the free UTM Grabber Reports skill for creative teams and media buyers that shows which ads to scale, rotate or pause.

- Page: https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/ad-creative/
- Report: Ad creative performance (Paid media, revenue and journeys)
- Shortcut: `/creative`
- Sample data from Northwind Dental, a fictional dental practice. Sample headline: “RSA - Same Day Emergency Care brought 66 paid leads, 10% of the total.”

## What this report answers

- Which ad creative brings the most leads?
- Which creatives are wearing out?
- Which ads spent money and brought no leads?
- Which creative should we scale, rotate or pause?

Built for: Creative teams and media buyers deciding what to brief next.

## What's in the report

1. A headline naming the top creative, or the top creative wearing out.
2. Up to 5 numbers: creative leads, ad spend and cost per lead when connected, how many are fatiguing, and the share of paid leads carrying utm_content.
3. A leaderboard of 12 creatives with a status badge: Fatiguing, Rising, Cooling, New, Steady or No leads.
4. A fatigue watch: weekly leads for the top 3 creatives plus the steepest fader, and a leads vs growth map.
5. Next steps: rotate the fatiguing creative, pause zero-lead spenders, scale the biggest grower, tag missing utm_content.

## Why You Can Trust What It Tells You

- **Catches creatives wearing out.** A creative is fatiguing after 3 straight weekly drops, or when its latest week is 40%+ below its first week of 4+ leads.
- **Only full weeks get compared.** The report uses full 7-day weeks only, so a partial week can't look like a drop, and 28 to 31 days gives 4 full weeks.
- **Same creative, counted once.** Names are grouped ignoring case and punctuation, so Hero_CTA and hero-cta count as one creative.

## Ask your AI

- `/creative`
- “Which of our ads are wearing out?”
- “Rank our ad creatives by leads this month.”
- “Which ads spent money and brought no leads?”

## What it uses

- Your UTM Grabber leads for the period and the period before.
- utm_content on paid leads, which the free plugin captures.
- Optional: Google Ads, Meta Ads or Microsoft Ads, for spend, cost per lead and ads with no leads. Ad names must match your utm_content values.

On Free and Starter your AI reads only your last 30 days, so a 30-day report leaves out the change against the period before. Starter+ and Premium add it.

### Which plan do you need?

What your AI can read from UTM Grabber:

- Free plugin: Your last 30 days, with a fair-use allowance (this report)
- Starter: Your last 30 days, with first touch and more click IDs
- Starter+ or Premium: Your full history, unmetered

Compare Plans: https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/plans/

The report designs need an AI app that supports skills: Claude, Codex or Cursor. ChatGPT gives the same plain-English answers from your leads, without the report designs.

## Sample in 4 looks

- Studio (Client-facing reports): [Web page](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/html/ad-creative-studio.html), [PDF](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pdf/ad-creative-studio.pdf), [PowerPoint](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pptx/ad-creative-studio.pptx), [full screen](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/#report=ad-creative&look=studio)
- Boardroom (Presenting to leadership): [Web page](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/html/ad-creative-boardroom.html), [PDF](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pdf/ad-creative-boardroom.pdf), [PowerPoint](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pptx/ad-creative-boardroom.pptx), [full screen](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/#report=ad-creative&look=boardroom)
- Ledger (Weekly ops reviews and analysts): [Web page](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/html/ad-creative-ledger.html), [PDF](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pdf/ad-creative-ledger.pdf), [PowerPoint](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pptx/ad-creative-ledger.pptx), [full screen](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/#report=ad-creative&look=ledger)
- Classic (Printed reports and long reads): [Web page](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/html/ad-creative-classic.html), [PDF](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pdf/ad-creative-classic.pdf), [PowerPoint](https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/samples/pptx/ad-creative-classic.pptx), [full screen](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/#report=ad-creative&look=classic)

## Questions

### How does it match leads to ads?

By utm_content. Each ad's URL carries a utm_content value, and UTM Grabber saves it with the lead. With an ad account connected, spend matches when the ad name equals the utm_content value.

### Does it judge how an ad looks?

No. It only sees lead counts, so it talks about hooks, offers and rotation, not design. A creative that grew against last month but is fading inside this one is called fatiguing, and the report says both.

### What if our ads don't use utm_content?

You get a short version that explains how to tag ads with utm_content, so the next report can tell your creatives apart.

## Related reports

- [Keyword performance](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/keyword/): Your best search terms by intent, and the ones to bid up.
- [Budget simulator](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/budget-simulator/): “What if we moved 20% from Google to Meta?” Modeled on your real numbers, with a range.
- [Customer journeys](https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/reports/journey/): First touch to last touch, with fair credit for every channel.

## Capture the Whole Journey, Starting Today

The free plugin remembers each lead's last click. Every UTM Grabber Premium plan, from Starter up, also records where they first found you, more ad click IDs and what kind of visit it was, from the day you upgrade.

- Last-click UTM tags: free plugin yes, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- Google Ads click ID (gclid): free plugin yes, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- First touch: free plugin no, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- Meta and Microsoft Ads click IDs (fbclid, msclkid): free plugin no, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- Traffic labels: free plugin no, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- AI assistant visits: free plugin no, UTM Grabber Premium yes
- WooCommerce orders: free plugin UTM tags saved, UTM Grabber Premium Full source on every order
- Cookie length: free plugin 30 days, UTM Grabber Premium You choose

Premium starts recording the day you upgrade. It can't fill in visits the free plugin never recorded, so every week on free is a week of first touches and click IDs you won't get back.

See UTM Grabber Premium Plans: https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/plans/

## Want Us to Build This for You?

Get reports like this one with your logo and colors, set up for you. With the Support Package, we connect the AI Connector (MCP) to your data and hand you your own AI report builder, tuned to your business, for weekly, monthly and annual reports.

The UTM Grabber Support Package is $199/yr (regular $349, launch price, real value: $1,700). Works on free and paid plans, and with your agency. Cancel anytime, no contracts.

- **Expert Setup:** Our resident expert team installs UTM Grabber and wires every form, with a live test.
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- **Ongoing Support:** New funnels and forms wired all year, with priority answers.

[Get the Support Package](https://utmgrabber.com/payment/?plan_id=support_v2) · [See What's Included](https://utmgrabber.com/support/)

## Get it on your own leads

1. Connect UTM Grabber to your AI with the AI Connector (MCP). Step-by-step guide: https://utmgrabber.com/mcp/connect/ (no plugin yet? Get the free plugin: https://utmgrabber.com/?signup=1&return_url=%2Fget-started)
2. Install the free Reports skill: https://utmgrabber.com/skills/utm-grabber-reports/
3. Type `/creative`, or ask in your own words.

Book a demo: https://utmgrabber.com/book-a-demo/