You may see this message in Ads Manager, especially if you run ads in Europe:
People’s ad settings may affect delivery. As people in the European Region make choices about their ad experience on our Products, you may see an impact…
Let’s discuss what this means…
Less-Personalized Ads
This is not new information, but it is an important reminder. Facebook and Instagram users in the European Union have two options:
- Use the app for free with ads
- Pay a subscription fee to remove ads
Meta initially offered these options thinking it would appease regulators. It did not. It was a very bad bet.
Not only did regulators require Meta to slash the price on the ad-free subscription TWICE, but Meta is also required to give users using the app for free one additional option: See less-personalized ads.
The Impact
The less-personalized ad experience relies on less data, “based only on context — what a person sees in a particular session on Facebook and Instagram — and a minimal set of data points including a person’s age, location, gender, and how a person engages with ads.”
Those who select the “less-personalized ads” experience will likely have a worse user experience. They won’t see fewer ads — only less relevant ones.
But this would also likely mean worse performance for advertisers. How much worse will depend upon the number of people who sign up for this.
If you run ads targeting people in the European Union, watch this closely.
