Facebook to shut down its some part of its Audience Network

According to a post on the official Facebook website, starting April 11 the Audience Network will no longer provide web and in-stream placements.

So, when you choose Audience Network as a placement, your ads will no longer show on mobile web publishers, instead of being limited to apps that make up part of the network.

Why the change?

According to Facebook, mobile web publishers are to be removed to allow them to focus on the continued growth of apps.

However, the reaction to this announcement suggests that Facebook is doing this because of Chrome’s decision to kill cookies. Without cookies, the activity will be more difficult to track on publishers’ websites, meaning the Audience Network can’t work. No tracking, no party baby!

Facebook hasn’t confirmed this rumored theory, but it does seem to be a logical reason to take this action.

What does it change for advertisers?

Well, this will surely cause a decrease of available impressions. However, as Facebook stated, mobile web publishers represent just a small fraction of the Audience Network, so there shouldn’t be too much change on your side.