Dive Brief:
- Facebook is expanding the reach of its Audience Network advertising platform to show ads to all visitors of websites in the network, the Wall Street Journal reports.
- Before, only members of Facebook’s social network, including brands like the titular company, and Instagram, were shown ads on third-party members of the Audience Network.
- Facebook has also been touting its almost year old Canvas ad unit which it says loads ten times faster than the average mobile website and gives brands a tool for app install and retargeting campaigns.
Dive Insight:
About the expansion of the Audience Network reach, Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook’s ads and business platform, told the Wall Street Journal, “Publishers and app developers have some users who aren’t Facebook users. We think we can do a better job powering those ads.”
The announcement also comes on the heels of Facebook putting notice that is shuttering its FBX ad exchange on Nov. 1. The exchange only reached a desktop audience and 82% of the social media company’s revenue in Q1 2016 came from mobile. The Audience Network reaches across devices and screens and includes what Facebook considers high value ads like its various video and native formats.
Gerry Graf, founder/chief creative officer at Barton F. Graf, an agency working with Little Caesars on Canvas campaigns, told Adweek, "It takes everything Facebook can do and puts it all into one place. It is like the new microsite but you don't have to go anywhere. Half of the deal is getting people to interact with your stuff and not asking them to go through too many steps."
