Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), has taken a step forward towards monetizing its nearly one billion monthly active user visits, by launching a new mobile Ad network that lets merchants target you with banner ads in other applications. The new Facebook Beta will now use your data, which allows advertisers to target users with customized ads, by using the users’ information. Banner ads will then appear in whatever page or mobile app you will be using, based on your Facebook data.
According to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), its goal is to display to its users, only ads that are relevant to them, based on their Facebook data, regardless of what sites or apps they are visiting at a particular time. This is a rather innovative way of monetizing its viewer activity, without literally making a hassle for the users to deal with.
While Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) refuses to disclose its advertisers, ad exchanges, ad networks, or publishers involved, the new idea is quite simple in terms of how it is going to work. Tech Crunch reported, “starting later today, you may start seeing banner and interstitial ads targeted by your Facebook biographical and social data within non-Facebook mobile iOS and Android apps, plus mobile websites where you’ve authenticated with Facebook.” The information being targeted would include age, gender, location, and likes, as well as friends who have used an advertiser’s app, and any other item that can be used to filter the kind of ads visible to you.
Therefore, its is quite clear that the habit of clicking the like button just for sake of it, should cease, unless you wouldn’t mind seeing countless ads, popping up on every app, or website you visit.
So, basically, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is more or less, an ad exchanger, on top of traditional mobile ad exchanges like Mobclix or Nexage, which bid for placements on ad networks like AdMob, iAd, or individual publishers, noted the report.
Advertisers place a bid, expressing their desire to help Facebook ascertain a specific demographic of its user base, while Facebook syncs the anonymous user IDs with a host of mobile ad exchanges. When a Facebook user pays a visit to an app or website where these exchanges have been placed, the exchange sends a message to Facebook, seeking to find out about any available bids set to target the user. If the result is positive, Facebook would then pay a small commission on the bid amount to the exchange, which will then show the ad to the visiting member.
The ads would then redirect the user, upon clicking on them or following whatever instructions are available, to an app store, or website, where the user can download a premium app’ or access some eCommerce services at a fee, among others, respectively.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), talking to TechCrunch, said, “right now we’re testing to see how these ads perform, whether people find them relevant. They could be an interesting way to discover new mobile apps and see relevant ads off of Facebook.” The social networking giant was not all self focused, adding, “with Facebook you have really great targeting. They’ll be able to reach people that are more likely to engage with the ads they see,” as an indication of how investors can gain from the project.
Mobile Ad monetization has been one of the biggest challenges for Facebook’s ad campaign, but it appears as though, now, the quandary has been overcome, or at least there are some positive signs towards getting over the edge, as it seeks to convert its large clientèle of customers into cash cows. During its most recent earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg did reveal that the company was going to take some drastic measures toward conquering the ghost of the mobile platform advertising, and indeed, the tech giant seems to be about to deliver just that.
