Daily vs. Shared Ad Budgets
A daily budget belongs to one campaign; a shared budget is pooled across several, and spend can be lumpier than either implies.
What it means
A daily budget applies to a single campaign. A shared budget is split across multiple campaigns that draw from the same pool, which can mean one campaign quietly outspends another on a given day as they compete for the same money. On top of that, the platform can spend up to roughly double your average daily budget on any single day, though it won't charge you more than your average daily budget times the number of days in the month over time.
Why it matters
Day-to-day spend is naturally lumpy because of this pacing behavior — a single high-spend day isn't automatically a sign something's wrong. But it does mean a very small daily budget can genuinely starve a new or automated campaign of the volume it needs, especially during its early learning period.
ask datanephew
Why did my campaign spend way more than my daily budget yesterday?
Ask datanephew to pull the campaign's recent daily spend. Spend up to roughly double the daily budget on a given day is normal pacing behavior, not an error, as long as the overall monthly total lines up.
Are my campaigns competing with each other for budget?
Ask datanephew to check whether your campaigns share a budget pool. If several campaigns draw from one shared budget, one can be crowding out another without it being obvious from either campaign's numbers alone.