Facebook tries a mobile ad network

For years the digital media industry has predicted Facebook would eventually launch an ad network. Now, Facebook is making those predictions come true.

The company said today it will begin selling ads in third-party mobile apps to select advertisers. Facebook will target those ads using detailed information it has about millions of Web users.

A spokesperson for the social network told Digiday that the program will not port Facebook-style ad units to other apps, however. Instead, it will simply use its data to target whatever formats those app publishers currently sell.

“These will look like the ads already appearing in the apps we’re working with. For this test, they won’t be labeled as Facebook ads,” the spokesperson said.

In 2012 Facebook ran a similar test, in which it purchased mobile media from ad exchanges on behalf of advertisers. This time it’s working directly with publishers and markers, however, in a more traditional ad network model. Facebook itself will be the only middleman.

“We are working directly with a small number of advertisers and publishers rather than an outside ad-serving platform,” a Facebook blog post said.

Facebook already operates its own ad exchange, of course, through which marketers can buy ads on the site targeted on their own data. But these mobile tests are some of the first attempts by Facebook to take its proprietary data and make it useful for marketers buying ads elsewhere on the Web.

https://digiday.com/?p=61870

More in Media

Digiday+ Research: Subscriptions and events gain steam among publishers’ most significant sources of revenue

Direct-sold ads continue to be the dominant source of publishers’ revenue as we move out of the first quarter. But other revenue sources are gaining in importance, particularly subscriptions and events.

Media Briefing: Apple News ad monetization still ‘abysmal’ for some

Publishers still can’t make meaningful ad revenue from Apple News despite its push to sell more ad inventory.

Andre ‘Typical Gamer’ Rebelo hits 1 million followers on Fortnite

As Epic Games looks to establish Fortnite as an alternative to platforms such as Roblox for metaverse-interested brands, seeing an individual creator reach one million followers could help convince more marketers to turn their attention to Fortnite Creative.