No. 

Before we even start going deeper into the whys, we’ll clarify it at the start. If you thought about it, don’t. If you already turned your ads off… well, turn them back on.

Now, listen. We’re marketers with years of experience running multi-million-dollar campaigns for big clients. 

And even the big players ask this same question: “Should we turn off Facebook ads at night?” We always advise against it.

In this article, we’ll explain the technicalities behind running Facebook ads at night, how it impacts your campaigns, and whether or not you should hit the “pause” button.

What Happens When You Turn Ads Off at Night?

On the surface, it might seem like a good idea to pause your ads during off-hours, especially if you’re worried about wasting ad spend when your audience isn’t online. 

But what does this do to your Facebook campaigns?

It Disrupts the Learning Phase

Every time you start a new ad campaign, Facebook’s algorithm enters a “learning phase,” which tests various combinations of your audience, creative, and delivery methods to find the best performance. 

Pausing your ads overnight and restarting them the next day disrupts this process. 

Each time you pause, Facebook has to restart its learning phase, potentially making your campaign less efficient.

Algorithm, Momentum and Delivery

Facebook’s algorithm thrives on consistency. 

When you turn off ads at night, you essentially lose the momentum your campaign has built up during the day. 

When you restart the campaign in the morning, the algorithm has to re-establish how your ads should be delivered, which might cause delays and inconsistencies in performance.

Increased CPMs When Restarting

If you consistently pause and restart your campaigns, Facebook may increase your Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) as your campaign is seen as unstable. 

The platform prioritizes consistent ad delivery, so any interruption can lead to more expensive bids to get your ads in front of your audience.

Does Your Audience Convert at Night?

Here’s where things get interesting: not all audiences behave the same way. 

While certain businesses might see no value in running ads at night, others may experience fantastic results.

Here’s how you can figure it out for yourself:

Review Your Account’s Time-of-Day Performance

Facebook gives you the ability to see a breakdown of your campaign’s performance by time of day.

Are you seeing strong performance late at night or early in the morning? 

If your product or service is something that people tend to buy impulsively or research late into the night—like beauty products, fitness gear, or entertainment subscriptions—there’s a good chance that keeping your ads running overnight will benefit you.

Look for Audience Behaviors

You may be selling products that are more seasonally or time-sensitive. For example, if you sell coffee or breakfast items, your conversions are likely to peak in the morning.

It’s when people think about it the most. 

But if your business is something that people buy in the evening, such as skincare, wellness products, or streaming services, your ads may perform better at night.

To figure out if nighttime advertising works for you, look at your data, and experiment. You don’t need to guess—you have access to powerful insights in Ads Manager.

But remember, even if you don’t—it’s better not to turn it off. Unless…

When It Might Make Sense to Pause Overnight

Does Your Audience Actually Convert at Night?

Here’s where things get interesting: not all audiences behave the same way. While certain businesses might see no value in running ads at night, others may experience fantastic results.

Here’s how you can figure it out for yourself:

1. Review Your Account’s Time-of-Day Performance
Facebook gives you the ability to see a breakdown of your campaign’s performance by time of day. Are you seeing strong performance late at night or early in the morning? If your product or service is something that people tend to buy impulsively or research late into the night—like beauty products, fitness gear, or entertainment subscriptions—there’s a good chance that keeping your ads running overnight will actually benefit you.

2. Look for Audience Behaviors
You may be selling products that are more seasonally or time-sensitive. For example, if you sell coffee or breakfast items, your conversions are likely to peak in the morning. But if your business is something that people buy in the evening, such as skincare, wellness products, or streaming services, it’s possible that your ads will perform better at night.

To figure out if nighttime advertising works for you, look at your data, and experiment. You don’t need to guess—you have access to powerful insights in Ads Manager.

When It Might Make Sense to Pause Overnight

Okay, let’s get real. Sometimes pausing your ads at night might make sense, but only in specific circumstances.

1. Tight Budget and Inefficient Spend: If you’re working with a limited budget and your ad spend isn’t performing efficiently overnight (i.e., you’re not seeing conversions), it might make sense to pause your ads for a few hours. For example, if you’ve identified that your ads consistently fail to perform well between 10 PM and 7 AM, it might be more cost-effective to pause them.
2. You’re Manually Controlling Ads (Not Recommended): If you’re manually controlling your campaigns, adjusting your budget and timing every few hours, it might feel tempting to pause ads during off-hours. However, this can create instability in your campaign performance. Instead, it’s far better to automate your campaign optimization strategies rather than rely on manual intervention. Trust us.
3. Time-Sensitive Promos or Events: If you’re running a limited-time offer or event with a specific timeframe (for example, a one-day flash sale), pausing your ads during non-peak hours might make sense. But even in this case, it’s better to use ad scheduling rather than manually pausing and resuming your ads.

The Big Agency POV: What We Actually Do

Let’s talk about the big agency perspective—because, let’s face it, we’ve spent millions on Facebook ads, and turning off campaigns at night is rarely the answer.

Why don’t we pause ads? Because Facebook’s algorithm is far more intelligent than many marketers give it credit for. It knows when to serve your ads and to whom. Consistency is key.

If you’re working with a larger budget or running campaigns that are expected to deliver over long periods of time, your best bet is to keep your ads running 24/7. Pausing them will only hurt you in the long run.

Instead of pausing ads, we recommend ad segmentation, creative rotation, and using automated bid strategies to optimize performance at all times.

If we had to pause ads at night, we would likely use ad scheduling to automate the process, but even that is rare for campaigns that require constant attention.

The Better Alternative: Smart Scheduling & Budget Allocation

If you’re worried about wasted ad spend overnight, you don’t have to hit the “pause” button. There’s a smarter, more efficient way to control when your ads run and how much you spend:

1. Use Ad Scheduling with Lifetime Budget

Instead of pausing ads manually, use Facebook’s ad scheduling feature. 

This allows you to choose specific hours and days for your ads to run. 

Lifetime budgets also allow Facebook to optimize the delivery of your ads, ensuring that they get delivered when your audience is most likely to convert.

Use Dayparting for Time-Sensitive Ads

If your product or service is more relevant at certain times of the day, use dayparting to adjust your ad delivery. 

This ensures that you’re only showing ads when they’re most likely to resonate with your audience.

 Let the Algorithm Do Its Job

Instead of pausing and restarting campaigns, let Facebook’s algorithm continuously optimize your ads. 

If you’re running a sales-based campaign, Facebook’s algorithm will often find the best opportunities to deliver your ads.

TL;DR: What Should You Do?

In short, you should almost never pause your ads at night. Instead, rely on Facebook’s powerful optimization features, like ad scheduling and lifetime budgets.

 Let the algorithm do the heavy lifting and learn from its data.

Here’s a quick summary of what you should do in different situations:

Scenario	Should You Pause Overnight?	Recommendation
New brand, small budget	Maybe	Use dayparting with data
Mid-budget, general products	No	Let ads run 24/7
Tight promo with daytime urgency	Yes	Use ad scheduling
You sell sleep aids or nighttime goods	Definitely not	Peak conversions are often at night

Final Word: Focus on the Right Problems

If you’re spending more time tinkering with pausing ads than focusing on improving your campaigns, then you’re solving the wrong problem. Instead of worrying about off-hours spend, focus on optimizing your creative, audience segmentation, and conversion tracking.

Facebook’s algorithm is smarter than you think. Instead of fighting it, let it work for you.