A/B Testing API for Reels and Videos

Updated: Jun 30, 2026

This document shows you how to create an A/B test for reels and videos published on a Facebook Page.

You can run up to 50 tests at once with a minimum of 2 posts and a maximum of 4 posts per test.

Before You Start

You need the following:

The ID for the Facebook Page where the test is being conducted

A Page access token requested from a user who can perform the CREATE_CONTENT task on the Page

The user must grant your app the following permissions using Facebook Login:

pages_manage_engagement

pages_show_list

pages_manage_posts

pages_read_engagement

pages_read_user_content

The IDs for the reels or videos, in draft status, that you want to compare

The reels or videos must be uploaded to Meta servers but not yet published

Limitations

An A/B test can only be created on Facebook Pages

A reel or video that has already been published can not be used in an A/B test

A reel or video cannot be used in multiple A/B tests

Create an A/B Test

To create an A/B test, send a POST request to the /PAGE/ab_tests endpoint, where PAGE is the ID for the Facebook Page, and include the following parameters:

Required

control_video_id – the ID for the video that, in the event of a tie, will be selected as the winning video

description – the description for your experiment

experiment_video_ids – the IDs for the videos you are comparing

name – the name for your experiment

optimization_goal – the goal of your experiment must be one of the following:

AVG_TIME_WATCHED

COMMENTS

IMPRESSIONS

IMPRESSIONS_UNIQUE

LINK_CLICKS

REACTIONS

REELS_PLAYS

SHARES

VIDEO_VIEWS_60S

Optional

duration – the length of time, in seconds, to run the test

minimum duration is 30 minutes (1800 seconds)

maximum duration is 1 week (604800 seconds)

scheduled_experiment_timestamp – the UNIX timestamp for the time to start the test,

default to the time you create the test

Example Request

Formatted for readability. Replace bold, italics values, such as PAGE, with your values.

curl -X POST "https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/YOUR_PAGE_ID/ab_tests"
     -H "Content-type: application/json"
     -d '{
           "name": "YOUR_TEST_NAME",
           "description": "YOUR_TEST_DESCRIPTION",
           "optimization_goal": "YOUR_OPTIMIZATION_GOAL",
           "experiment_video_ids": [YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1, YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_2],
           "control_video_id": YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1_AS_CONTROL
,           "duration": 1800,
}'

On success your app will receive a JSON response with the ID for your A/B test.

{
  "id": "AB_TEST_ID"
}

Get A/B Test Results

You can get data about an A/B test during the experiment or after it has concluded.

For a specific test

To get data about a specific A/B test, send a GET request to the /AB_TEST_ID enpoint where AB_TEST_ID is the ID for the test you are interested in.

curl -i -X GET "https://graph.facebook.com/AB_TEST_ID"

On success your app will receive a JSON response with details about the experiment such as the name, goal, IDs for the videos, published status, videos insights for each test video, and a declaration for which video performed the best. In the example here, EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1 performed the best.

{
  "id": YOUR_AB_TEST_ID,
  "name": "YOUR_AB_TEST_NAME",
  "description": "YOUR_AB_TEST_DESCRIPTION",
  "optimization_goal": "REELS_PLAYS",
  "experiment_video_ids": [YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1, YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_2],
  "control_video_id": VIDEO_ID_1_AS_CONTROL,
  "publish_status": "LIVE",
  "creation_time": "1686665092",
  "updated_time": "1686665092",
  "scheduled_experiment_timestamp": "1686665092",
  "test_insights": {
      "timestamp": "1686665092",
      "videos": {
          YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1: {
              "plays": 10,
              "impressions": 1,
              "fan_impressions": 1,
              "link_clicks": 1,
              "comments": 1,
              "shares": 1,
              "reactions": 1,
              "video_views_60s": 1,
              "video_views_3s": 1,
              "video_views_15s": 1,
              "avg_video_views": 1,
              "video_views": 1,
              "instream_ads_earnings": 1,
              "avg_time_watched": 1,
              "video_retention_graph": {
                  "0": 1,
                  "1": 1,
                  "2": 0.5,
                  "3": 0.2
              }
          }
          YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_2: {
              "plays": 5,
              "impressions": 1,
              "fan_impressions": 1,
              "link_clicks": 1,
              "comments": 0,
              "shares": 0,
              "reactions": 1,
              "video_views_60s": 1,
              "video_views_3s": 1,
              "video_views_15s": 1,
              "avg_video_views": 1,
              "video_views": 1,
              "instream_ads_earnings": 0,
              "avg_time_watched": 1,
              "video_retention_graph": {
                  "0": 1,
                  "1": 1,
                  "2": 0.5,
                  "3": 0.2
              }
          }
      },
      "declared_winning_video": YOUR_EXPERIMENTAL_VIDEO_ID_1,
  }
}

For All Tests on a Page

To get a list of all A/B tests conducted on your Facebook Page, send a GET request to the /***PAGE***/ab_tests endpoint where PAGE is the ID for the Page you are interested in. Add the since and unti parameters to get data for tests run during a specific time period.

Note: When using the since and until parameters in your GET request, the date for until must be a date after the date for since. For example, if since is 2023-01-31, until must be after 2023-01-31. You can use both parameters, or one or the other. Date formats can be any of the following:

today, yesterday

Epoch timestamps (1676057525)

dd mmm yyyy (31 jan 2023) or dd-mm-yyyy (31-1-2023)

curl -X GET "https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/PAGE/ab_tests"

On success your app receives a JSON response with an array of test objects.

{
  "data": [
  ... {AB_TEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT_1},
  ... {AB_TEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT_2},
  ... {AB_TEST_RESPONSE_OBJECT_3}
  ],
  "cursors": {
    "before":"QVFIUkxLWWtMb3BSQV91aF81NkN4c1RYczJZAQ0NQOHpQ",
    "after":"QVFIUkxLWWtMb3BSQV91aF81NkN4c1RYczJZAQ0NQOH"
  }
}

Delete an A/B test

You can delete an A/B test once it has concluded.

To delete an A/B test, send a DELETE request to the AB_TEST_ID endpoint where ID is the ID for the A/B test you want to delete.

curl -X DELETE "https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/AB_TEST_ID"

Note that the posts in the A/B test will not be deleted.

References

Endpoint	Description
`/page/ab_tests`	Create and read A/B tests for a specific Facebook Page
`/AB_TEST_ID`	A specific A/B test

More Resources

Graph API Overview External link icon indicating the Graph API Overview link opens in a new tab

– Learn more about the Graph API from Meta

Facebook Login – Learn how to implement Facebook Login to ask for permissions from a person

Facebook Page Tasks – Learn more about the tasks a person can perform on a Facebook Page

Page Access Tokens – Learn more about Page access tokens and securing API calls

Paginated Results – Learn more about paginated results returned via the Graph API

Permissions – Learn about permissions needed to access API endpoints

Upload a Video – Learn how to upload videos to the Meta servers