It is becoming increasingly important for advertisements to be “mobile-ready”, personalised and targeted to a relevant audience.

Yoav Arnstein, director of product marketing for publisher solutions at Facebook, shed some light on these issues, telling Mobile World Live there is a need to promote transparency and fairness in the ecosystem.

You have said in the past nearly two-thirds of all mobile display ads will be native by 2020. In 2018, how far along are we with this trend?
The original stat came from research from IHS, which we commissioned back in 2016, and we believe this is still true.

eMarketer’s figures, released in 2017, show that native now makes up more than 50 per cent of digital display spend and that is no surprise.

Native ads increase revenue from apps while preserving the design and user experience developers worked so hard to build. With a higher user engagement than other formats, native ads can help achieve higher CPMs while delivering a better user experience.

We also see increased realisation from all parts of the ecosystem that taking user experience into account is critical for people, publishers and advertisers. It is supported by the native adoptions trends.

How important are mobile-first video advertisements?
They are definitely important, but we believe it’s more important that ads are “mobile-ready.”

We readily encourage advertisers on Facebook and Audience Network to consider the user consumption mode. Mobile is a constant companion and according to Cisco’s most recent Visual Networking Index on Global Mobile Data Traffic, mobile video consumption is set to grow by 900 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

If marketers want to reach their audience where they spend a large amount of time, creating video ready for the mobile environment is essential.

You said Facebook wants to “promote transparency and fairness in the ecosystem” – how is it doing this?
Transparency and fairness are two key focuses for us – and they sit across all that we do. We want users, advertisers and publishers to have greater clarity. For example, when it comes to advertising with Facebook, people should be able to tell who the advertiser is and see the ads they’re running.

We’re also working on giving advertisers more clarity and control around where their ads run. In September, we announced that we’re introducing new monetisation eligibility standards specifying the types of publishers and creators eligible to earn money on Facebook, and the kind of content that can be monetised. From a publisher perspective, we believe they should understand the true value of their inventory – thus, we’ve introduced products such as Header Bidding.

Header Bidding shows how much each demand source is willing to pay for an impression and drives competition, giving publishers a better understanding of the true market value. We will continue to build upon our efforts to provide even greater transparency for people and accountability for advertisers.

How important is personalisation in maintaining consumer loyalty?
Personalisation is everything because people are in control. When the content is personalised to the user, engagement is much more likely. That’s why we take a people-based approach by showing content and ads people want to see, from the brands they care about.