Why is Facebook showing as a placement in the Google Display Network?
While auditing the placements in a client’s remarketing campaign, one particular placement jumped out at me: facebook.com
Since when is Facebook on the Google Display Network?
When you click “see details” on the placement, AdWords slices out the placements more specifically:
So my ads aren’t displaying on Facebook itself; they’re on apps within Facebook. But wait, I’m excluding mobile apps as placements in my campaign:
This exclusion isn’t catching Facebook apps, so I added apps.facebook.com as a new negative placement.
I reached out to Google to get a little more insight, and a rep named Madison had this to say:
“Sometimes, Google ads can serve on Facebook apps within the greater frame of Facebook. We aren’t serving ads on Facebook directly, but rather on games/content that is embedded on Facebook itself. You can download a report of which apps Facebook allows to monetize here by grouping by “inventory source”: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/adproviders
Additionally, if someone shares a Youtube video on Facebook, and an ad is served on the Youtube video, the placement can be attributed to Facebook (instead of the video itself). This is a bit like the app example — the video is embedded within Facebook but is not on Facebook directly (think of when you’re on Facebook on your phone and then click a link — it opens up a “Facebook browser” embedded within the app instead of taking you to a separate Chrome/Safari tab).”
September 19, 2017