How Meta Actually Works in 2026

Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth · Jul 7, 2026 · 17m

Meta has fundamentally changed how it targets and delivers ads, and most brands are still operating on the old rules. In this episode, CTC's VP of Paid Media Tony Chopp breaks down the CTC Methodology for Meta advertising: why creative is now the targeting, how Meta's Andromeda and GEM systems make decisions no human operator can match, and the counterintuitive principle that defines how our profit engineers manage accounts every single day.

Topics covered:

How Andromeda and GEM replaced audience-first targeting

The breakdown effect and why historical ROAS doesn't predict future ROAS

Campaign…