Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has finally launched its mobile advertising network—about two years after initially testing it. Today at the F8 conference, management said they want to handle measurement, targeting and payments for developers so that they don’t have to.
Facebook increasingly focuses on mobile
In 2012 when Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) began testing its mobile ad network, mobile made up such a small chunk of its advertising that the network was not a priority. Now it’s a different story, however. The social network began testing the network again in September, and at that time, the company decided to make it a full network which works with publishers and advertisers. The reason for this was to get a higher margin out of the feature.
On Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s most recent earnings call, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said marketers had given them good feedback about the network. Deb Liu of the social network’s platform products segment, said they wanted to take over the mobile advertising experience for developers so they “don’t have to hire a giant sales team to sell ads.”
Facebook’s ad network goes head to head with Twitter’s MoPub
The new Audience advertising network will face off directly with MoPub, which Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) recently acquired. Independent advertising networks like InMobi and AdMob will also be competitors, reports TechCrunch. Brands can decide to advertise on third party mobile aps through Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s Audience mobile advertising platform, utilizing the social network’s data in the process.
At F8, management said they decided to move forward with Audience because even though they had the top Android and iOS apps, they didn’t make any money through them. They also said the platform provides advertisers the high return on investment they want and also an easier time loading ads into their systems.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said they’re “really excited” about the Audience network and that it’s “really the first time that we’re going to help you monetize in a serious way on mobile.”
