Is Facebook Programmatic Advertising?

Facebook programmatic, arguably the second biggest growth area this year behind video advertising, is what exactly? Though when discussing methods of advertising, one question that many marketers and business owners encounter is: Is Facebook programmatic advertising? With lots of technical terms around Internet ads, it can be easy for the debate to get muddied.

This article aims to explore the issue clearly by examining what programmatic advertising actually is, where Facebook fits into this, and what it means for your marketing strategy. When you finish reading, you’ll be better able to discern whether or not Facebook is a programmatic advertiser and how best to leverage that fact in your company’s favor.

What Is Programmatic Advertising?

Now, before we answer that very question, we need to know what programmatic advertising means in reality.

Programmatic advertising is a way of buying and selling ad space, making use of advanced algorithms and automation technology. Instead, sellers have to take stock across several devices or manually facilitate the process; programmatic advertising employs software that automatically doles out digital inventory in real time without any human intervention.

Programmatic Advertising’s Defining Characteristics

Real-time Bidding (RTB) – This is the most popular form of programmatic advertising and the most familiar to many people. This system sets up automated auctions for ad impressions as fast as possible, enabling advertisers to bid on them in milliseconds.
Direct To Precision — Programmatic advertising makes use of behavioral data, demographics, location, and context to serve targeted audiences with the most appropriate-compliant content in real-time.
All-Everything Reach – We are able to easily run across multiple platforms with programmatic advertising, from websites to mobile apps to streaming services.
Automation eliminates manual tasks such as negotiations with publishers to place ads, and greatly improves efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Programmatic advertising rests on a combination of demand-side platforms (DSPs), which enable advertisers to administer ad transactions, and supply-side platforms (SSPs), which match publishers offering ad space.

That’s Why Facebook Isn’t “100% Programmatic” Right Now

Since we now know the nature of programmatic advertising, how can we fit Facebook into this picture exactly?

Facebook’s Ads Manager Isn’t A Real DSP

Facebook’s advertising platform, Ads Manager, is highly automated and data-driven, like a programmatic advertising system. But it is not a traditional demand-side platform (DSP) such as The Trade Desk or Google DV360. In other words, Facebook functions within its own domain instead of enabling programmatic ad purchase across all publishers and channels.

With Facebook, you’re buying ad space directly from Facebook on its platform (including Instagram). True programmatic advertising, however, involves multiple platforms and publishers working together within a larger network of ad exchanges.

Limited to the Facebook Ecosystem

Programmatic advertising enables advertisers to reach audiences across websites, mobile apps, video streams, and more. Facebook ads, however, are created exclusively within Facebook’s realm of properties (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network). And while Ad Audience Network extends reach onto third-party apps and websites, it lacks the scale and diversity available through other sources at an open marketplace like a DSP.

Lack of RTB Transparency

Facebook’s behind-the-scenes auction system looks like RTB, but in fact, the advertiser does not obtain the complete transparency of how auctions are done there. In Sharp contrast, RTB lines permit more insight into auction procedures and control over bidding mechanisms.

How Facebook Ads Mimic Programmatic Features

Although Facebook isn’t fully programmatic, it greatly utilizes many of the most significant symbolic representations of programmatic properties. For advertisers looking for advanced automation and tight targeting, but not wanting to spend the time and effort that traditional DSPs would require, Facebook is an excellent tool.

Hyper-Targeting Capabilities

Facebook is great at turning data from users into powerful tools for targeting. Facebook uses the activities of all its users to assemble millions of scraps of information which allow it to segment an audience into categories such as interests, behavior, location and district, age and so on as much as programmatic achieves.

Automation

With Facebook Ads Manager, advertisers benefit from significant automation. For instance, machine learning algorithms decide how ads are shown based on campaign goals like conversions and traffic, and in doing so save advertisers much manual work.

Real-Time Performance Insights

Like programmatic advertising, Facebook Ads Manager offers complete statistics on performance in real time, allowing advertising strategists to make adjustments dynamically and flexibly.

Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO)

Facebook lets advertisers use dynamic creative to apply several different advertising elements and then simply see which ones perform best in real-time. This feature is basically programmatic advertising’s DCO capabilities in another form.

Should Your Business Focus on Facebook Ads or Programmatic Advertising?

Both Facebook advertising and programmatic advertising have their advantages. The choice between the two depends largely on your business goals, audience, and resources. Here’s a quick rundown to guide the way:

When Facebook Ads Are Ideal

Offering highly sought-after audience segments at any depth that live within Facebook, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger.
For small-to-medium-sized businesses. They want a tool that is reliable and user-friendly. Facebook ad purchase, for example, is a self-service platform that does not require outside DSPs or ad exchanges.
Less manual intervention, automate to optimize performance

Investing in Programmatic Advertising

You need a comprehensive strategy that extends across all channels.
A Truly International
Now you want more detailed information. True DSPs have advanced tools and insights that Facebook Ads Manager just can’t deliver.
You want to find large numbers of new users completely outside those who are already in the Facebook ecosystem.

Having the Best of Both Worlds

The best part? You don’t have to pick one over the other. By integrating Facebook’s advertising platform into your business in tandem with programmatic advertising, you converge their two worlds and practice an off-line digital marketing: this is really where blood meets water for most merchants.

For example, you could leverage Facebook Ads Manager against highly engaged users on Facebook while simultaneously using programmatic advertising to gain scale across websites, apps, video platforms, and connected TVs (CTVs). Using both methods, a business takes advantage of Facebook’s targeting and programmatic’s all-channel style.

New to the concept of automated ad buying? Don’t miss our full breakdown on How to Get Started with Programmatic Advertising.