Facebook’s ad and business platform vice president, Andrew Bosworth, acknowledged that people have been turning to ad blockers on Facebook in a bid to avoid annoying and repetitive ads. Bosworth went on to say
“As a result of what we’ve learned, we’ve introduced tools to help people control their experience, improved how we decide which ads to show and created new ad formats that complement, rather than detract from, people’s experience online.”
As a result of this, Facebook will now be showing ads to users even when they are using ad blockers. However to avoid users having ads that they have no interest in seeing, you will have the option to block certain ads by removing specific interests from their ad preferences. Another new feature for users will be the ability to remove themselves from custom targeting lists created by companies.
With this move, Facebook may be risking the loss of 198 million ad blocking software users around the world, a number which has seen rapid growth in recent years and that looks to continue going forward. But Facebook believes it will ultimately benefit the end user with Bosworth stating
“Facebook is ad-supported. Ads are a part of the Facebook experience; they’re not a tack on”
All in all this new system looks like a winner for Facebook marketers in Ireland and the rest of the world. There is huge potential for growth in desktop advertising as many users that were previously unreachable due to ad blockers will now be available to target. Similarly, giving users the option to turn ads off for specific niches and companies could also lead to stronger engagement rates as the people who see your ads will be more likely to be interested in your products and services.