Facebook opens ad targeting to outside applications

Facebook on Tuesday ramped up its "Audience Network" that mines what it knows about users to target ads in other applications on smartphones or tablet computers.

Audience Network, announced earlier this year at a Facebook conference for developers, expands the social network's ad platform beyond its borders on the vast landscape of mobile apps.

In a global coming out of sorts, Facebook announced it is making the network available to more marketers worldwide

"The Audience Network uses the same targeting and measurement features that marketers already use when advertising on Facebook," the social network said in a blog post that promised ads designed "to fit seamlessly" within apps.

The move was expected to boost Facebook revenue from mobile advertising, according to analysts.

"With the expansion of the Facebook Audience Network, advertisers are getting what they had been hoping for: the ability to use rich social media user data to reach consumers not only on Facebook, but on other mobile apps and services as well," said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Facebook claimed 16.5 percent of worldwide mobile advertising revenue in 2013, with that share growing to 20.4 percent this year, according to eMarketer.

Facebook net income in the second quarter of this year leapt to $791 million on revenue that surged to $2.91 billion, with approximately 62 percent of that money coming from ads served up on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers.

The number of people who visited the online social network at least once a month climbed to 1.32 billion, according to Facebook.

The California-based Internet titan is to report its most recent quarterly earnings on October 28.

© 2014 AFP