Is Facebook Set to Launch Its Own Ad Network?
The tremendous commercial success Google has enjoyed was triggered by their Adwords system that allowed advertisers to align ads with keyword searches. An extension of this was the Adsense network that allowed publishers to place Google ads on their sites and Google would provide contextual ads related to their content.
Thus far Facebook has not had anywhere near this level of success with their own advertising methods, with neither ads or sponsored stories proving overwhelmingly popular with advertisers or users. Their recent IPO has however focused attention on how they will monetize the tremendous number of users accessing the site each day.
TechCrunch reports however that they are looking to build their own Adsense style advertising network. The Facebook powered ads have started appearing on the Zynga.com website in what could be the beginnings of a Facebook ad network. Zynga are the social gaming company that have grown in synchrony with Facebook.
According to the Facebook Help Center, “When you connect with Facebook on Zynga.com, you’ll see personalized ads and sponsored stories. The Facebook ads you see on Zynga are the same ads you see on Facebook.com.”
The ads appear in the sidebar at Zynga, which was traditionally where they have placed Google ads. They still run Google ads at the bottom of the screen however.
Last year, Facebook said it had agreed to work with Zynga to provide ads on their properties beyond Facebook, though at the time it was unknown what the “Zynga Platform” would be.
Both Sponsored Stories and traditional Facebook ads — those with headlines and body copy — appear on Zynga.com. It’s unclear whether ads for competing games are prevented from being displayed on the site. We’ve reached out to both companies for more details.
Facebook said this in a statement in response to the rumours “We have had a close relationship with Zynga for a number of years and we think we can deliver value to Zynga and to the people playing their games by showing the same ads that they see on Facebook. We will not be showing ads on other sites at this time.”
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