Facebook Messenger Globally Tests Injecting Display Ads Into Inbox (techcrunch.com)

From a TechCrunch report: Messaging is the center of mobile, and Facebook wants ads in front of all those eyes. After seeing "promising results from Australia and Thailand," Facebook Messenger is expanding its display ad beta test that lets businesses buy space between your chat threads. Later this month, a small percentage of users will start seeing ads in the Messenger app's home tab. Facebook tells TechCrunch that where these ads appear in the inbox "depends on how many threads a user has, the size of their phone's physical screen and the pixel density of the display." Over the next month, Facebook will gradually roll out Messenger ads to all advertisers globally. They'll have the ability to buy through the Ads Manager or Power Editor, with Messenger becoming one of the automatic placements for Facebook ads alongside the main Facebook app, Instagram and the Audience Network of other apps and sites. Ads aren't targeted by what people write in messages, and instead use the same Facebook targeting, measurement tools and minimum 50 percent pixels in view standard for viewability.

Comments

Great.

[BenJeremy]

I just don't get enough of those co-dependent, needy messages from Facebook already. I rarely get on to Facebook, because while I consider it somewhat useful, there is also a lot of noise. I don't care that my second cousin Betty just posted a picture. I do care that my uncle Albert has a birthday today. I scan it once a week or so to keep up to date.

Unfortunately, Facebook seems to be "all or nothing" in the way it feeds news.

I get that they have to make money, but filling my inbox with spam, and texting me as if something meaningful has been sent is pretty damn disgusting as a tactic.