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Guide

Creative Copilot: The Scoring Methodology Behind the AI

Discover how Creative Copilot analyzes and classifies your advertising creatives using dynamic benchmarks, a weighted scoring system, and fatigue detection.

12 January 2026
6 min
Nanga Team

Creative Copilot is Nanga's AI module dedicated to optimizing your advertising creatives. It automatically analyzes your ads and classifies them into three categories to help you make the right decisions quickly:

  • Top Performers — Creatives delivering exceptional results
  • Bad Performers — Underperforming creatives that should be paused
  • Ad Fatigue — Previously strong creatives showing signs of exhaustion

This classification relies on a weighted scoring system, comparing each creative against dynamic benchmarks from your own account.

Prerequisites: Creative Filtering

Before any analysis, creatives must meet these minimum thresholds:

CriterionValueReason
StatusActiveOnly analyze running ads
Minimum Spend≥ €50Ensure statistical significance

Creatives below €50 spend are excluded from both analysis and benchmark calculations to avoid statistical noise.

Dynamic Benchmarks

Why Personalized Benchmarks?

Rather than using arbitrary thresholds, we compare each creative to your account's performance history. A creative is evaluated against what's actually achievable for your audience, product, and market.

  • Window: Rolling 12 months
  • Geographic scope: Benchmarks calculated only on creatives from the same country

Segmentation by Type and Age

Benchmarks are calculated separately for each type/age combination to ensure fair comparisons.

Creative Types:

CategoryFormats
VIDEOvideo, reel, dynamic
IMAGEstatic, carousel, feed, collection, gif

Age Brackets:

BracketActive DaysDescription
EARLY1-7 daysLearning phase, volatile metrics
ESTABLISHED8-30 daysStable phase, reliable performance
MATURE31+ daysLong-running, saturation risk

A 5-day-old video is compared to other early-stage videos, not to 60-day-old images.

Percentiles Used

For each segment, we calculate percentiles P10, P25, P50, and P75:

  • P75 = top 25% of creatives (Top Performer threshold)
  • P25 = bottom 25% (Bad Performer threshold)
  • P50 = median

Key Metrics

Performance Metrics

MetricFormulaInterpretation
ROASRevenue / SpendReturn on ad spend. ROAS 2.5 = €2.50 generated per euro spent
CPCSpend / ClicksCost per click. Lower = better
CTR(Clicks / Impressions) × 100Click-through rate (%)

Video Metrics

MetricFormulaInterpretation
Hook Rate(3s Views / Impressions) × 100% of viewers captured in the first seconds
Hold Rate(ThruPlays / 3s Views) × 100% of viewers who watched until the end

Creative Signal

The "creative signal" is the most predictive engagement metric for each format:

FormatSignalReason
ImagesCTRA static image must generate clicks
VideosAverage (Hook + Hold)A video must capture AND retain attention

Scoring System

Each creative receives three scores (0-100%), one per category. It's assigned to the category with the highest score, if that score reaches at least 70%.

Top Performer Score

CriterionWeightCondition
Objective metric > P7540%In the account's top 25%
Spend > P5020%Significant budget allocated
Conversions > P505%Conversion volume
Creative signal > P5015%Good engagement
Stable/growing performance10%Trend ≥ -5%
CPC < P5010%Efficient clicks

Bad Performer Score

CriterionWeightCondition
Objective metric < P2540%In the bottom 25%
Spend > P2520%Wasted budget
Conversions < P105%Almost no conversions
Creative signal < P2515%Low engagement
Declining performance10%Trend < -10%
CPC > P7510%Expensive clicks

Ad Fatigue Score

CriterionWeightCondition
Declining objective metric40%Trend < -10%
Running > 7 days25%Saturated audience
Rising CPM20%CPM +15% vs last 7 days
Declining creative signal15%-10% vs last 7 days

Final Classification

Decision Logic

IF score_top ≥ 70% AND trend > -50%:
    → TOP_PERFORMER

ELSE IF score_bad ≥ 70%:
    → BAD_PERFORMER

ELSE:
    → Unclassified

Fatigue as an Overlay

Fatigue is an additional flag, not an exclusive category:

  • A Top Performer can be flagged as fatigued if fatigue_score ≥ 85% → "Still performing but prepare a replacement"

  • An unclassified creative is flagged as fatigued if fatigue_score ≥ 70% → "Declining due to audience saturation"

  • Bad Performers are never flagged as fatigued (should just be paused)

Image vs Video: Key Differences

AspectImagesVideos
Creative signalCTR onlyHook Rate + Hold Rate
"Bad signal" conditionCTR < P25Hook OR Hold < P25
Main optimization leverVisual, copy, CTAFirst 3 seconds (hook)

Why Hook + Hold for Videos?

A video can fail in different ways:

  • Good hook, bad hold → "Clickbait" effect, viewers leave after a few seconds
  • Bad hook, good hold → Slow start, viewers lost before the value

Both metrics matter, and changing the hook is often the fastest lever to optimize a video.


Summary

Creative Copilot lets you instantly identify your best creatives, those to cut, and those showing signs of fatigue. All based on your own historical data, not generic benchmarks.

Coming soon: choice of objective metric (ROAS, CAC, CPA, CPL...) based on your campaign goals.

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