Instead of jumping between date ranges to spot trends, get side-by-side comparisons of any metric you care about. Perfect for weekly reviews, seasonal analysis, or tracking whether your creative strategy is trending where you want it to go.
What period-over-period reporting does
It shows how your creative performs in one time range vs another — last week, last month, or any custom range you choose.
Every metric gets three data points:
Current period performance
Previous period performance
Percentage change (color-coded green for increases, red for declines)
This works across all your top performance metrics (ROAS, CPA, CTR, etc.) and Motion metrics (Hook score, etc.) It's also applicable for Northbeam metrics!
Where to use it
Using period-over-period with top ads reports
This is the place to start.
Open a Top performing report
Set your filters (minimum spend, campaign name, whatever you need)
Set your date range and in the same window toggle on Compare
Choose your comparison period: Previous period (most common), last month, or last year
Hit Apply
Card view: Each creative shows current metrics plus the percentage change from your previous period. You'll see what's gaining momentum and what's cooling off at a glance.
Table view: Every metric gets its own comparison columns: Current period, previous period, and percentage change. Add dozens of metrics if you're looking for serious creative data.
Start with your 📆 Week-over-Week Trends report
We created this report and added it to your Motion account automatically. Find it in your Reports folder on the left sidebar.
It's preset to compare this week vs. last week — perfect if you're running creative reviews or testing on a weekly cycle. Use it as-is or customize it to fit your workflow.
Using period-over-period with comparative reports (advanced)
This is where period-over-period reporting gets really powerful for big-picture strategy. You'll see trends within the categories you use for grouping. You can examine broad creative themes or get really specific.
Example: Personas
Create a comparative report and group by Intended audience (learn more about AI tagging). Set your performance date range and turn on period-over-period comparison.
Now you can see:
Is spend trending up or down for your top personas?
Are you improving ROAS for your core audience?
Is your CPA climbing across any segment — time to refresh creative?
Other great comparative use cases:
Video performance: Track whether you're hitting your goal to put more spend behind video
Creator performance: See if the creator you have on retainer is improving metrics over time
Format testing: Monitor whether UGC is maintaining its edge or if studio content is catching up
Just like top ads reports, comparative reports show period-over-period data in both card view and table view.
Pro tips for period-over-period reporting
Seasonal comparisons: Black Friday this year vs. last year. Holiday launch week vs. the week before. Set custom date ranges to compare the periods that matter to your brand.
Consistency matters: You should almost always compare equal time periods. Week to week, month to month. Comparing seven days to 30 days gets messy.
Be careful with metric selection: Don't add every metric just because you can. It can get overloading quickly, especially the table view. Start with the handful that best inform your decisions and watch those trends.
Save your views: Once you've set up a comparison that works for your weekly or monthly check-ins, save it. Future you will be grateful.
FAQs about period-over-period reporting
Is this available for all ad accounts / data sources?
Period-over-period reporting works for Meta creative only right now. It is not available for TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn.