TL;DR: If your custom event (e.g., BrijPurchase) isn’t available to add as a reporting column in Ads Manager, “prime” it by creating a campaign that optimizes for that event. You can set the start date in the future so it never runs. After publishing, your event should immediately become selectable as a metric column in reports and you're welcome to delete the campaign.
Why this happens
Meta only surfaces custom events as reporting metrics after you’ve used them as an optimization event at least once. Until then, they won’t appear in the column picker, even if the event is firing.
What you’ll need up front
- A working pixel/dataset connected to your ad account.
- Your custom Brij event firing (via pixel and/or Conversions API).
- Your custom event confirmed in Events Manager. New events aren’t always approved automatically; if yours is missing, see “Not seeing your custom event?” below.
1) Check that the new event is approved in Events Manager first
New custom events aren’t always approved automatically. Until an event is confirmed, it won’t show up as a selectable Conversion event when you build the primer campaign below (and thus it won’t appear as a column). To confirm it:
- Open Events Manager and select the relevant Pixel (dataset).
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down to Manage Event Blocking and click Review.
- Find your custom event under Action required and confirm it.
Once confirmed, the event becomes selectable when you create the campaign and choose the Conversion event below. If it's already confirmed there is nothing to do, either way you're ready now for step 2.
2) Create a campaign (no spend required)
- In Ads Manager, click + Create → choose Engagement as the objective.
- Proceed with Manual engagement campaign (or the equivalent “manual” setup option)
- Name your campaign "Brij Reporting - NO SPEND" so others know it's a temporary ghost campaign.
3) Point the ad set at your website and Brij event
- In the ad set, set Conversion location to Website.
- Select your site’s Pixel (or dataset).
- For Conversion event, choose your custom Brij event (e.g., BrijPurchase).
- Don’t see it in this dropdown? Confirm it in Events Manager first (see step 1 above).
- Don’t see it in this dropdown? Confirm it in Events Manager first (see step 1 above).
- Set a start date in the future (so no money is spent) and publish.
4) Add the event as a reporting column
Back in Ads Manager, open the Columns dropdown → Customize columns.
- Use the search bar to find the custom event and add it to your view (save a preset if you like). Also add the custom event revenue and other fields as desired.
Result: The custom event metric should now be available to add as a column, typically right away after publishing that draft campaign.
FAQs & gotchas
Do I have to actually run or fund the campaign?
No. Setting a future start date and publishing is enough to register that you’re optimizing for the event; you can delete the campaign after confirming the column appears.
I still can’t see custom event in the column picker. Now what?
Try these quick checks:
- Confirm the event fired recently. Use Events Manager’s diagnostics/testing to make sure the custom event is being received.
- Confirm the custom event in Events Manager. New custom events often need manual confirmation under Pixel → Settings → Manage Event Blocking → Review → Action required (full steps in “Not seeing your custom event?” above). Unconfirmed events are restricted from optimization and reporting.
- Double‑check the pixel/dataset selection in your ad set matches the one receiving the custom event. (If you pick the wrong pixel, the event won’t be available.)
- Republish the “primer” campaign once more to ensure the event is truly selected as the optimization event. After that, look again under Columns → Customize columns.
Where exactly do I add columns again?
In Ads Manager, use Columns → Customize columns. That’s also where you can save presets and share them with teammates.
Why does Meta do it this way?
Per practitioner guidance and Meta’s own behavior, custom events are only surfaced as metrics after they’ve been used to optimize delivery, which signals to the system that you care about tracking that action in reporting.