Facebook is leaving no stone unturned as it begins to sell off-site ads that target non-users.
While already a massive business with more than 1.65 billion active users and raking in more than $5 billion in revenue in the last quarter alone, the social network is going beyond its territory and unleashing its advertising power across the Internet.
Previously, non-users or those not logged in would not see Facebook advertising on third-party sites or mobile apps. Now, the company announced Thursday, May 26 that it will start helping marketers show their ads to all users visiting websites and applications in the Facebook Audience Network.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook will apply cookie tracking, use its own “like” and other buttons and plugins, as well harness additional data to pinpoint non-Facebook users on third-party sites. It will use said insight to boost relevance of ads targeting non-users who visited the sites.
“[W]e have a greater opportunity than other companies using the same type of mechanism,” said Andrew Bosworth, Facebook vice president for ads and business platform, of the billions of people in their core audience.
While a subtle one, the new move positions Facebook better in its competition with Alphabet subsidiary Google, which has been dominating the digital advertising landscape worldwide.
The change also enables Facebook to sell and place a wider portion of online ads, which earned the powerhouse more than $17 billion in ad revenue last year.
The company clarified that non-users will still be able to opt out of “interest-based” advertising from it, while members can do the same based on their on-site interests. Buyers across the Audience Network, too, can choose to not show their ads to non-users if they desire, although that ad space will be a default inclusion.
Bosworth, however, believes that more than giving advertisers greater targeted outreach, their platform’s expertise of net users and ad practices can help slash poor-quality advertising.
“Advertising may be here to stay, but bad advertising ... doesn’t have to,” he said in a blog post, highlighting their efforts to provide improved online ad experience to advertisers, publishers and users.
Photo: Robert Scoble | Flickr
