New Facebook tools for advertisers may beat TV marketing

If you tend to watch more online entertainment than television, you’re not alone. And now Facebook is banking on users’ online viewing habits to attract advertising dollars.

To kick off Advertising Week, Facebook announced a suite of new tools to attract advertisers who are more interested in tracking viewership than direct marketers, who look at the numbers of users who click-through and buy, according to CNBC.

Following television’s lead one step further, Facebook is teaming with the long-time TV ratings firm Nielsen on metrics advertisers can use to plan, buy and track the success of their ads. Their “Target Ad Ratings” system can combine for advertisers the television and online reach of their marketing.

A Nielsen study commissioned by Facebook showed that such combining can increased an ads reach by 19 percent, compared to only using television ads. The study also showed that Facebook advertising was more efficient than television marketing.

Facebook also announced the launch of its “brand awareness optimization” tools, which allow companies to pay for finding audiences that are more likely to remember ads and spend time viewing them. Brands can also now use mobile polls including photos and videos to find out how effective their ads are.