Anyone tried Online Sports Ads with geo targeting?

I have been thinking about this for a while. Has anyone here actually tried running Online Sports Ads using proper geo and device targeting? I used to believe sports ads were just about picking a match season and pushing traffic. But after a few failed attempts, I realized it is not that simple.When I first started testing sports campaigns, I did what most beginners do. I targeted broad regions, left device settings open, and hoped the platform would “optimize” everything for me. The traffic came in, but engagement was inconsistent. Some areas performed well, others completely wasted budget. It felt random. I kept asking myself if sports ads were just too competitive or if I was missing something obvious.The real struggle for me was figuring out where my audience was actually active. Sports interest changes by region. Cricket works differently in India compared to football in Europe. Even within one country, metro cities behaved differently than smaller towns. Once I narrowed my campaigns to specific cities instead of entire countries, I noticed more stable performance. It was not dramatic at first, but it was definitely more predictable.Device targeting was another surprise. I assumed mobile would always win because most people scroll sports content on their phones. But during live matches, desktop traffic sometimes converted better for certain offers. I would not have noticed that if I kept everything combined in one campaign. Separating mobile and desktop made tracking easier and helped me adjust bids more confidently.I also learned that timing matters a lot. Running ads all day was draining my budget. When I aligned ads with match schedules or peak sports browsing hours, engagement improved. It sounds basic, but I ignored it at the start.If anyone is still figuring out how to structure campaigns, I found this page on  Online Sports Ads  helpful for understanding how targeting layers work together. It is not about pushing anything. It just helped me see that geo, device, and timing should not be treated as secondary settings. They are actually the core of the setup.One mistake I made was scaling too quickly. When one region performed well, I expanded too fast without testing smaller segments first. Performance dropped because the new areas behaved differently. Now I test one region at a time and let data settle before increasing budgets.Overall, my main takeaway is this: sports audiences are passionate but very context driven. Location, device, and timing change how they respond. Broad targeting might bring volume, but controlled targeting brings clarity. I am still experimenting, but breaking things down into smaller segments made a big difference for me.Curious to know how others approach this. Do you start narrow and scale out, or go broad and optimize later? I feel like sports ads reward patience more than anything else.