Facebook overhauls Audience Network because 'not all clicks are created equal'
Facebook is to update its ad network in a move geared towards encouraging publishers to improve the overall user experience of their apps, instead of optimizing them solely to increase clickthrough rates (CTR) on ad placements.
Facebook's third-party ad network is poised for an overhaul
The social network today (October 13) announced that over the coming months it will overhaul the Facebook Audience Network in a bid to improve its ability to value ad placements on the network of third-party mobile app inventory after a series of earlier tests.
David Jakubowski, Facebook’s adtech chief, revealed the update in a blog post where he outlined the potential results of, and reasoning behind the remodeling of its means of valuing ad placements.
“This means that Audience Network publishers may see fluctuations in their CPMs in either direction. We hope these updates will encourage publishers to develop high quality placements that are not optimized solely for click through rates,” reads the post.
“ We take our commitment to quality seriously - we want Audience Network to be the best place for both advertisers and publishers to build their businesses.”
This stems from his belief that “not all clicks are created equal”, and that “advertisers find wide variations in value” for all clicks, but that on the whole the pay the same amount of money for each one.
“One way we optimize for real outcomes is through the signals advertisers send us. Over the past year, we have seen increases in advertisers using conversion signals to optimize their campaigns, such as app events and the Facebook pixel,” he added.
Facebook Audience Network lets advertisers buy advertising inventory on third-party mobile apps based on the social network’s array of audience targeting data, with Jakubowski adding that the upcoming changes will assure advertisers of the quality of inventory it offers. As a result, if publishers optimize their own offering accordingly, their own businesses will be more “sustainable”, according to his post.