Facebook introduces ad retargeting platform "Exchange" to its ads business repertoire
Facebook Launches “Exchange,” Retargeting Ad Platform
Ad exchanges that rely on retargeting and real-time bidding are becoming more and more popular, since the technology allows advertisers to target an individual user (based on online behavior) at the lowest possible price. According to SFGate, real-time bidding will account for some $5.08 billion—approximately 27 percent—of the predicted $18.9 billion that will be spent on display ads in 2015.
As more and more of the display ad industry moves towards retargeting and real-time bidding, it only makes sense that Facebook would want to make use of the most sophisticated advertising tools. In late June, the social media giant announced the launch of Facebook Exchange, a new service that relies on cookies to retarget users based on online behavior across the Web.
Of course, Facebook ads have been targeting users all along based on their behavior on Facebook — or on Facebook likes made on others sites. The key difference is that the targeting will now extend to online behavior that doesn't directly involve Facebook.
For example, if you looked at — but didn't purchase — a product on Amazon recently, you might have found that as you surfed the Web, you encountered Amazon banners for the product you viewed. Now, as you click around Facebook, you might see a Facebook ad for the same Amazon product.
“The more that Facebook can open up to different types of advertisers with different types of goals and make it easier for them to deliver targeted advertising, the better for Facebook,” eMarketer analyst Debra Williamson told the Los Angeles Times.
In an email to MarketWatch, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter suggested that Facebook Exchange is ultimately about the company's efforts to show Wall Street that they're serious about growing revenue. “The important thing is that they are mixing it up, trying to find ways to better monetize, and I think that is important,” Pachter wrote.
Facebook's move certainly signals an opening of the previously closed Facebook ad gate. Now, marketers will be able to cast a wider net and reach Facebook users as more holistic entities, integrating their Facebook information with their larger Internet tracks.
If you don't like seeing retargeted ads for some reason, have no fear. When users 'X' out a retargeted ad on Facebook, they're given a link to the DSP and can then opt out.