Facebook launched their Audience Network in October 2014 and have slowly grown the network over the last 2+ years. Reading on the Facebook Business blog recently I came across the stat that 1 billion people now see an ad through the Facebook Audience Network each month.
Dang!
While the Audience Network boosts impressive stats, I’ve seen many advertisers excluding this placement from their Facebook/Instagram accounts because it has the perception of being a low-quality partner network. However, when you’re reaching 1 billion people each month, this has some very real potential for well-targeted and well-optimized campaigns to gain volume.
What Does Audience Network Mean Exactly?
The Facebook Audience Network shows ads to the same Facebook users you target with traditional campaigns, but these ads are shown on other mobile apps and websites. During creation of a new ad set you can see the option for Audience Network under Placements if you click the Edit Placements radio button like so:
You’ll also notice that Facebook gives you additional control over the Audience Network via the 3 links in Advanced Options. These include the following:
- Specific Mobile Devices & Systems
- iOS
- Android
- Only when connected to WiFi
- Exclude Categories
- Dating
- Gambling
- Politics
- Religion
- Apply Block Lists
- These are created by the advertiser. Read more here.
In short, if you’re looking to get more volume from Facebook and you aren’t already using this option, I’d say that it’s worth testing. Go for it!
Do you utilize the Facebook Audience Network? Why or why not? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
