Facebook has launched a set of ad tools designed to help brands better synchronise their ad campaigns across screens, using Target Ratings Points (TRP) as a measurement metric.
The move, announced at the start of industry event Advertising Week, marks Facebook’s attempt to take on television networks, teaming up with TV ratings firm Neilsen to help.
The social network also announced a new stat; it now has 2.5 million active advertisers on the platform, 25 percent more than in February.
Now, Facebook plans to use the language and currency of TV to sell ads to them. The company is introducing a way for advertisers to use Target Rating Points— as in TV ratings—as the metric with which they plan, buy and measure the success of those ads.
Under the scheme, Nielsen’s new Target Ad Ratings system can verify the total ratings point delivery for Facebook and TV combined.
This means that marketers can plan a campaign across TV and Facebook with a total TRP target in mind and buy a share of those TRPs directly with Facebook using industry standard Nielsen measurement tools, according to the social network.
To support the launch, Facebook has published research indicating that boosting TV campaigns with Facebook video ads drives incremental reach, increases efficiency and improves effectiveness.
Advertisers that conduct campaigns synchronised across TV and Facebook see 19 per cent increase in targeted reach versus TV alone – this increase to 37 per cent with “millennial audiences – according to the study.
“Marketers can plan a campaign across TV and Facebook with a total TRP target in mind, and they can buy a share of those TRPs directly with Facebook. Then, Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings measurement system can verify Facebook’s in-target TRP delivery, and Nielsen’s Total Ad Ratings system can verify the TRP delivery for Facebook and television combined,” reads a blog post announcing the launch.
In addition, Facebook has launched optimisation tools that let advertisers better understand how their campaigns on Facebook and Instagram generate brand awareness by allowing advertisers to conduct mobile polling on both platforms.
The same blog post reads: “Brand awareness optimisation is designed to help advertisers find the audiences most likely to recall their ads.
“It takes two primary factors into account: attention and reach. We’ve found that, when it comes to brand awareness, it’s not just how many people you reach that matters—it’s also crucial to break through and earn people’s attention.”
Facebook has also announced the addition video to its carousel ad formats which it introduced last year.