Facebook has launched a new feature enabling advertisers to reach people based on the network connection — 2G, 3G or 4G — they most often use when accessing the social network. Facebook already offers the option to reach people based on the type of device they use (smart phones, feature phones and tablets), as well as device model and operating system. “However, advertisers also told us that having the ability to segment based on network connection type would help them create better ad experiences,” says a statement by the company, which adds that the new tool will help advertisers adapt creative to different devices and connection speeds.
“For example, serving a video ad to people in Indonesia with 2G connections may mean wasted impressions if people are unable to load the video or it buffers for minutes when clicked. Optimizing the creative — for instance, targeting a video campaign to people with high-speed connections, and swapping in an image or link ad for people with slower connections — means ads can perform more efficiently for the people seeing them,” the statement adds.
Advertisers such as Vodafone in India are already experimenting with Facebook new targeting capabilities, and, according to the network, are seeing good early results. “We are excited about the new mobile targeting option on Facebook which allows us sharper targeting to a relevant audience,” says Ronita Mitra, senior VP, brand communication, insights and online, Vodafone India. “We hope to see more such technology innovations across the industry.”
Bandwidth targeting is available to advertisers around the world via the Ad Create tool, Power Editor and the API. “As with all targeting options we offer, this feature was built with privacy in mind. All data is anonymous; audiences for mobile network targeting are developed by aggregating groups of people based on primary connection type,” claims Facebook.
