Facebook 'likely to roll out mobile ads in weeks'

By Sarah Shearman, mediaweek.co.uk, 06 February 2012, 09:11AM

Facebook is poised to start monetising its mobile offering, with ads expected to appear on its app within weeks, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Facebook: readies mobile ad service

According to the report, Facebook has discussed plans with advertising agencies about introducing the "featured stories" ads, which are based on the Sponsored Story format, into users' timelines on mobile devices as early as March, ahead of its initial public offering.

It did not specify whether ads would be served on the Facebook Messenger app, as well as its main app.

With an IPO on the horizon, which could see Facebook valued at $100bn, the company is looking a new ways of generating advertising revenues to justify this valuation.

In December it claimed to have 425 million monthly active users using its mobile products, which is around half of its total monthly active users.

Advertising on mobile has been for a long time predicted as the next logical step for the company.

At the start of the year, Facebook paved the way for mobile advertising, by rolling out "featured stories" within users' news feeds for the first time.

Last week, Simon Mansell, chief executive of TBG Digital, the Facebook advertising specialist agency, told Media Week that mobile advertising is the "next obvious and short term step" for Facebook.

He said: "A big question is how will Facebook bring further value without upsetting its user base."

Follow Sarah Shearman on Twitter @Shearmans

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk