You may see this message in Ads Manager, especially if you’re advertising in Europe:
People’s ad settings may affect delivery. You may see an impact when people in Europe choose ad experiences on our products…
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 EU have two options:
- Free to use the app with ads
- Pay a subscription fee to remove ads
Meta initially offered these options to appease regulators. But that’s not the case. This is a very bad bet.
Not only did regulators require Meta to slash the price of ad-free subscriptions twice, but it also required Meta to offer users of the app an additional option for free: viewing less personalized ads.
Influence
Less personalized ad experiences rely on less data, “based solely on context — what a person saw in a specific session on Facebook and Instagram — and a minimal set of data points, including a person’s age, location, gender, and how a person interacts with ads.”
Those who choose the “less personalized ads” experience may receive a worse user experience. They won’t see fewer ads, just less relevant ads.
But it could also mean worse performance for advertisers. What’s worse depends on how many people sign up.
Please pay close attention to this if you run ads targeting EU populations.
