A story reported here yesterday was missing some key nuances in how the Facebook Exchange will work. The below is our clarification and correction based on new information shared by Facebook and its DSP partners.
Sources told AdExchanger yesterday, and Facebook confirmed at the time, that frequency capping would not be possible through the new Facebook Exchange – nor would view-through tracking or impression tracking. We also noted the technical challenges inherent in the requirement that advertisers upload creative to Facebook and submit to a hybrid human/automated approval process.
We passed this on to readers, but not all of it was accurate.
As it turns out, frequency capping will work on the Facebook Exchange, as will impression tracking. However, Facebook says, “We don’t have view through at this time.”
It’s important to understand the method for impression tracking is substantially different from what programmatic media buyers are used to. Facebook DSP partners tell us it will function not by allowing third party ad servers to drop a cookie, but through a technical process intended to protect the security of Facebook’s social graph data.
“In a sense, after you serve the ad, the confirmation comes back from Facebook that gets recorded by the DSP,” said Mike Baker, CEO of DataXu, one of Facebook’s eight approved partners. “They’re passing us our IDs. It’s a workaround so that the social graph data is not unintentionally leaked outside of Facebook. That’s why they don’t like to have the pixels put in there.”
AdExchanger regrets the error! Please bear with us while we continue to shine a light on the Facebook Exchange.
-Zach Rodgers
