ORBIT TODAY · {{current_date_full}} · ISSUE NO. 00
Meta is removing the ability to exclude individual placements, platforms, devices and operating systems at the ad-set level.
Translation?
You can tell Meta where you’d prefer your ads to perform.
But Meta increasingly wants the final say on where it finds the result.
Goody goody.
Meta’s argument makes sense: give its algorithm more places to look, and it has more chances to find a cheaper conversion.
And for plenty of advertisers, that might genuinely work.
Here’s the catch
Instagram gives you leads at £10.
Audience Network gives you leads at £2.
Meta sees £2 and thinks:
Jackpot.
But your sales team calls those leads and discovers nobody answers, nobody buys and Gary has now threatened to throw the CRM out of the window.
Suddenly that £2 lead isn’t looking so cheap.
Previously, a media buyer could simply exclude that placement from the ad set.
That option is going away.
You’ll still have controls such as Placement Value Rules, creative customization and account-level exclusions — so Meta isn’t locking you in a room and taking the keys.
Is it changing the job?
Instead of constantly telling Meta where to find customers, marketers may need to get much better at telling Meta what a valuable customer actually looks like.
That means watching more than CPCs and cheap leads.
Look at:
Which leads actually become customers?
Which placements drive profitable sales, not just cheap actions?
Whether Meta is receiving enough downstream business data to optimize toward what you really care about?
The upside?
Less time babysitting placements.
The Real Deal
Meta can optimize perfectly toward the wrong thing if you give it the wrong signal. Meta may know the ad auction better than you do.