Should marketers be worried about Meta's updated targeting policy?
Meta's recent blog announcement about discontinuing some detailed targeting options has raised concerns in the marketing community. Advertisers have been adapting to algorithm tweaks and policy changes, but the stakes are raised when the alterations involve sensitive topics that may impact ad targeting strategies. For the uninitiated, recentlyMetaannounced on its blog that it was discontinuing some detailed targeting options because they are either not widely used, redundant with others, too granular, they relate to topics that people may perceive as sensitive (e.g. targeting options referencing causes related to health, race or ethnicity), or because of legal or regulatory requirements. “We will provide alternative targeting recommendations within Meta Ads Manager when possible,” it further stated. The big question here is whether advertisers should be worried. Industry experts stand divided in their viewpoints. Some say that this move by the tech giant need not be as big a concern for advertisers and marketers. At the same time, some point out that the only segment to feel the impact to some extent would bepolitical and propaganda advertising. This process began mid-January and is set to continue till 18 March 2024 for existing ad sets with the affected targeting options. “After this date, we will stop delivering ads to the discontinued detailed targeting options, and affected ad sets may be paused,” the Meta blog further noted. Experts offer a reassuring perspective, downplaying the potential impact on advertisers. Some liken it to a routine recalibration, emphasising that the discontinued options are often underutilised or too granular to significantly influence ad campaigns. "It's like streamlining a cluttered toolbox; you get rid of the tools you never use and focus on the essentials," remarks a digital marketing expert. Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO, ReBid echoes a similar voice and says the impact, if any, would be very marginal. “I don’t think they are going to see like a 10% drop in spends of any sorts,” he said. However, according to Dingra, what would be interesting to note is how performance marketing will be impacted with the cookies phased out by the end of the year, and what Meta then does to counter that. “The avenues of large-scale targeting are so limited, that I don’t think Meta’s current market share whether in India or globally is going to be that heavily impacted, at least till the cookies deprecate,” he mentioned. This step by Meta, however, is not new to the industry. The tech giant has in the past removed certain ad targeting options owing to sensitivity and ad safety. A digital expert shared, “They started majorly with political advertising because political ads can be hyper-targeted even to the zip code level. The intent is that on platforms like Meta and in general on the internet, there has been a huge amount of divisive or polarising content. So by removing many of these targeting options, you won’t be able to target to the extremes.” According to him, this move does affect some brands, but it would largely impact political advertising or propaganda advertising. “But that is probably a good thing, you don’t need that amount of propaganda.” However, apart from just polarising content being a reason, there seems to be the aspect of effectiveness using broader reach also in play. “Meta is also trying to push advertisers towards more broad reach-based options as opposed to hyper-targeted based options,” he said. Experts feel that the move impacts ad targeting, by pushing up costs for those who are using the ad targeting options. But in a larger scheme of things it is unlikely to have an effect of more than 2-3%. “For most categories and businesses, I do not think it will pose a major issue. Most of the campaigns on Meta run on Custom or Lookalike audiences which continue to be available, so from my perspective it may not affect campaigns at large scale adversely,” says Prasun Kumar, Business Head, Magicbricks. Having said that, he also pointed out that most brands realise that first-party audiences are what marketing needs to focus on and build. And that's where the future is headed. “Also, if sharp targeting options get reduced, the quality of output from Meta / Google platforms will get impacted. Both advertisers and platforms are quite aware about it. Hence, I expect sensible equilibrium will be maintained there,” Kumar added.
Tags : Targeting Meta Meta Targeting Policy