How to Create a Video Engagement Custom Audience

A video engagement audience collects people who watched your video on Facebook or Instagram, so you can show them a follow-up ad. You choose the engagement, such as people who viewed at least 10 seconds, pick up to 200 videos, and set how long people stay in the audience. Where the video came from also affects how big the audience is.

Which views count toward the audience?

Meta says you can build an engagement custom audience from people who watch your video on Facebook or Instagram. That includes videos delivered to feed, stories and other eligible placements on both. For the wider family of engagement audiences, see how to create a custom audience.

How do you create the audience?

1. Open Audiences.
2. Click Create audience, then Custom audience. If you have never made an audience, click Create a custom audience.
3. Click Video, then Next.
4. Choose the engagement, for example people who viewed at least 10 seconds of your video.
5. Click Select videos when it appears in the engagement search bar.
6. Choose a video source and tick the videos you want, up to 200.
7. Click Confirm.
8. Enter the retention, the number of days people stay in the audience after they engage.
9. Add an audience name and an optional description.
10. Click Create audience.

You return to Audiences, and when the audience has populated, Ready appears under Status. Figures are as checked on 2 Oct 2026.

Which video sources can you pick from?

Source	What Meta says to do
Facebook Page	Select a Page and check the videos you want
Instagram professional account	Select an account and tick the videos; you can choose several videos from several professional accounts for one audience
Campaign	Search for a campaign, active or inactive, and tick its videos
Video ID	Enter video IDs from your Page’s video library and check the videos

Why can the audience be smaller than your ad reach?

Meta says the size depends on how the video entered your ad:

• If the video file was uploaded during ad creation, the audience size reflects the ad reach.
• If you built the ad from a video in an existing post, the size may reflect the number of views on that post instead.

Meta’s example is a campaign that recorded over 200,000 views but shows only 1,000 during audience creation, because the video was reused from a post. The audience is then built from the 1,000, not the 200,000. If your numbers look wrong, read why a video engagement audience is not working.

How does retention work?

Meta says people are removed from your audience after the set time period unless they engage with the videos again. With a 30-day setting, someone who engaged 29 days ago is still in, but leaves if they don’t engage the next day. Anyone new who engages inside the period is added. The audience is constantly refreshed, so you only edit it to change the time period or the type of engagement. This page gives no maximum for the retention field.

What else should you know?

• Targeting options are limited for audiences that include people under 18, or older in some countries.
• Meta says you can’t create new ad sets with audiences based on Facebook Pages that have been deleted, or use those audiences in other campaigns. That covers lookalike, special ad and saved audiences that include them.

FAQ

How many videos can one audience use?

Meta says the selection window lets you choose up to 200 videos. You can mix videos from several Instagram professional accounts in one audience, and you can pick videos from active or inactive campaigns.

Can I use videos from an inactive campaign?

Yes. Meta says the campaign source lets you search for a campaign that is active or inactive, then tick the videos you want. The campaign must belong to the ad account you are using and must not be deleted.

Do I need to refresh a video audience?

No. Meta says the audience is constantly refreshed as people engage and age out of the retention period. Edit it, or make a new one, only if you want to change the time period or the type of engagement.