Meta has announced a set of changes that no one has asked for, that is unless you’re a patron of its advertising services. If that last part wasn’t enough of a giveaway, then you’ll be disappointed to know that the upcoming updates the social media conglomerate is planning to introduce include new ad placements and formats on Facebook and Instagram.
First off, Meta says Facebook Reels will be getting new unskippable, standalone post-loop video ads that are from four to 10 seconds long that will play after a reel has ended. In addition, it is also adding AI and automation to its Meta Advantage Suite which is claimed to be able to help businesses learn and “unlock value” from their ad investments more quickly.
Next up is Instagram, the company revealed that it will be including ads to both the Explore Tab and the Profile Feed, as well as introduce a new advertisement format that is powered by AI and features multiple advertisers. The former two is pretty straightforward enough, where users will soon see ads appearing while browsing through the two aforementioned, as opposed to just the Home feed. “As a part of this test, we will experiment with a monetization opportunity that will allow eligible creators to earn extra income from ads displayed in their profile feeds, beginning with select US creators,” Meta says.
Meanwhile, the new AI-powered multi-advertiser function allows for ads to be included onto an existing one. Undeniably, this approach itself sounds like a bizarre move, but Meta believes that it will work and benefit both users and advertisers alike.
“When a person engages with an ad, we’ll deliver ads underneath that we think may be of interest, powered by machine learning,” the company explains. “We’ve found that adding multi-advertiser contextual ads to existing Instagram feed ads campaigns outperformed running campaigns for the Purchase outcome compared to those that did not include multi-advertiser ads.”
Lastly, Meta adds that it has also recently launched an open beta test for augmented reality (AR) based advertisements to the feed and Stories sections of both Facebook and Instagram. It suggests that this would encourage engagements with users, allowing them to try out virtual representations of an advertiser’s items via the technology.
According to Meta’s most recent quarterly report, it is revealed that the company is experiencing a downward spiral in terms of revenue during the second quarter of 2022. That being said, it looks like the aforementioned changes to its advertising ecosystem on Facebook and Instagram are inevitable, as the company continues to find different ways to cover its losses.
(Source: Meta [official blog], via Engadget)
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