Facebook Opens Up Mobile Ad Network to All Advertisers

Facebook's mobile ad business is about to get another boost.

The social network announced Tuesday that its mobile ad platform, called Audience Network, is now open to all marketers and mobile developers.

Audience Network, which was first announced in April, allows businesses to use Facebook's ad targeting tools to better serve ads on mobile applications not named Facebook. In one example offered by the social network, Shazam used Audience Network to sell native ads in its own app, including an ad for Uniqlo.

"Facebook's 1.5 million advertisers can now extend their Facebook campaigns to the Audience Network with just one click," Tanya Chen, a software engineer at Facebook, wrote in a blog post. "This gives our publishers and developers access to a huge pool of demand that includes many of the best brands that advertise on Facebook. It also means people see ads from the brands they care about."

Some of the publishers already using Facebook's mobile ad network include Shazam, Zynga, Le Monde and MyD.

"We've done a lot of work already in the past years to help you build and grow your apps," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's cofounder and CEO, said during a presentation in April announcing the new mobile ad platform. "This is really the first time that we are going to help you monetize on mobile."

Mobile ads, once thought to be a weak spot for the social network in the lead up to its IPO, have turned into key driver of revenue growth. Facebook's mobile ad revenue surged to $1.66 billion last quarter, more than double what it was a year earlier and accounting for 62% of the company's total ad revenue. Much of that is believed to be fueled by the success of Facebook's app install ads.

Facebook announced Tuesday that its mobile ad network will expand beyond app install ads and app engagement ads to include link advertisements as well.



Global mobile ad spending is expected to top $30 billion this year, according to data from eMarketer. Google remains the top player in the market, but Facebook is catching up faster than any other company.

Facebook reportedly close to launching new ad platform in bid to take on Google

It looks as if Facebook is about to reveal exactly what it’s made of the Atlas Advertising Suite, which it bought from Microsoft last year.

The ad manager and measuring tool will launch imminently as an advertising platform for the social networking giant as part of its strategy to boost revenue and take on Google in the online ad space, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Designed to help marketers improve the way they manage and target their campaigns, the tool offers analytical information on which Facebook users are looking at which ads. It also reveals how users interact with those ads, and whether they’re persuaded to take such interaction further by, for example, making a purchase or clicking through to another site.

The platform will also include an automatic ad-buying tool that can target Facebook members across the Web.

“Atlas’s powerful platform….will help advertisers close the loop and compare their Facebook campaigns to the rest of their ad spend across the web on desktop and mobile,” Brian Boland, Facebook’s director of product marketing, said when the acquisition was announced in 2013.



Google

According to the Journal, which received information for its report from “people familiar with the company’s plans,” Facebook’s new platform is part of its effort to compete with Google in the hugely lucrative online ad market.

Facebook has been steadily building its ad-based revenue in recent years, but is still way behind Google – the social media service pulled in $2.68 billion in the most recent quarter, while Google’s ad revenue hit $14.36 billion for the same three-month period.

Facebook hopes that by offering marketers improved targeting opportunities, as well as more accurate data on the progress of an ad campaign, it will be in a position to close the gap on the Mountain View company.