Facebook's Audience Network Available To All

08-10-2014Tags: Social

Following the announcement of an upcoming mobile ad network at the f8 Global Developer Conference on 30 April, Facebook have today officially launched the Audience Network, which is available for all advertisers worldwide.

The social media giant now allows advertisers to purchase ads powered by its targeting data that is hosted on third-party apps. The Audience Network is designed to help marketers deliver the most relevant ads on the right apps, and acts as a bridge between advertisers and developers. Since the launch of Audience Network, advertisers no longer need to establish their target audience or measure the returns on investment. Furthermore, the Audience Network also enables developers to easily monetise their apps by hosting with Facebook ads.

According a Facebook spokesperson, 'the Audience Network is a simple way to extend Facebook advertising buys across mobile apps to increase relevancy for people, yield for publishers, and more results for advertisers.'

The Audience Network acts as an extension of Facebook's existing interface. When advertisers purchase ads through the Ads Create tool, the Power Editor and the API, they can choose if they wish to place ads in 'Partner Mobile Ads.' By doing this, it enables advertisers to utilise Facebook's existing biographical, interest and activity targeting data.

Facebook Joins The Competition

The launch of the Audience Network puts Facebook in direct competition with Google's AdMob, Yahoo's Flurry, and Twitter's MoPub for mobile advertising spend. According to TechCrunch, 62% of Facebook's ad revenue is generated by mobile, and this was before the launch of the Audience Network. Facebook will now be able to increase developer spend as there are more places to place ads.

During the testing period before today's official launch, the Audience Network was only running ads that advertised apps and directed users straight to the app stores. From today, the Audience Network has opened up a more traditional link ad, which allows advertisers to send users to any mobile website.

More information on Facebook's Audience Network can be found on the Facebook for Business News page.