What: Facebook is planning to close its ad exchange FBX which allows advertisers to buy desktop ads.
Why it matters: The move is said to be part of Facebook’s shift to mobile now that mobile has become its’ main source of traffic and revenue.
Social networking giant Facebook is reportedly planning to close its ad exchange FBX that allows advertisers to buy desktop ads.
The move is part of Facebook’s shift to mobile.The social network has also started selling video ads via its Audience Network platform
Sources from Facebook suggested that the exchange product would be shuttered by November. The ad inventory available through the FBX product was limited to space desktop computers, such as display ads that appear along the right side of Facebook’s home page. FBX did not feature mobile or video ads. And mobile now makes up the bulk of Facebook’s traffic and revenue.
Facebook launched FBX in 2012. Ad tech companies such as Criteo, DataXu, MediaMath and AppNexus have been buying ads on behalf of marketers through the ad exchange over the past few years. Third party vendors can still purchase ads on Facebook through the company’s “application programming interface.”
“Mobile is now a necessary component of effective marketing campaigns, and Facebook is helping millions of businesses understand their customers’ purchase path across devices,” said Matt Idema, vice president of monetization product marketing at Facebook . “Dynamic Ads and Custom Audiences have mobile at their core and are delivering excellent results for businesses, so Facebook Exchange spending has shifted towards those solutions,” he added.
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