Bid Multipliers

NOTE: This API is available on a limited basis to partners and advertisers that are on the allow list. Contact your Meta representative to use it.

Bid multipliers enable advertisers to reduce the amount of audience segmentation required because it allows them to maintain a nuanced bidding strategy within a single ad set with one targeted audience. For example, advertisers typically create ad sets so that they can bid differently for various audience segments. For example, an advertiser can create 3 ad sets corresponding to 3 different age groups: 18–25, 26–35, 36–65. With bid multiplier, an advertiser can create a single ad set, then use bid multipliers to bid differently for each of those buckets.

Bid Multiplier Best Practices

• Use customized bidding strategies without having to create too many audience segments or ad sets. This helps you achieve better ads delivery while you avoid over-segmenting campaigns into a larger number of ad sets with relatively small audiences.
• In the past, you could create 3 ad sets corresponding to 3 different age groups. You could then separately bid for each one of these ad sets. You can now create a single ad set and use bid multipliers to bid differently for each of those age groups; bid multipliers range from 0.09 to 1.0.
• Bid multipliers need to be specified under a single user_groups key.
• Bid Multipliers are available for auction campaigns.
• All bid strategies are supported with bid multipliers, specifically: Bid Cap, Cost Cap and Lowest Cost.

Set Up Audience Categories

With bid multiplier, you can define audience categories and assign a bid multiplier for each audience category. Audience categories are defined with user demographic information, user device, and advertiser custom data. Housing, employment, or credit campaigns are restricted from assigning bids for audience categories of age, gender, locale, home_location, user_bucket, and lookalike custom_audience (a custom audience derived from a lookalike audience).

age

Group users by age ranges; for example, 18-25, 26-35. As an example, for an ad set with USD 5 bid cap, bid USD 2.5 for users aged between 18 to 25, bid USD 3.5 for users aged between 26 and 40, bid USD 5 for all other users. Note: The default is optional. You can apply 1.0 as the multiplier.

Example

{
    "user_groups": {
      "age": {
        "18-25": 0.5,
        "26-40": 0.7,
        "default": 1.0
      }
    }
}

booking_window

Possible breakdown values include any integer range greater than or equal to 1. For example, 1-3, 4-9, and so on.

Example

curl -X POST \ 
  -F 'bid_adjustments=
     {"user_groups":{"booking_window":{"event_sources":["123456789"],"1-2":0.1,"3-5":0.2,"default":0.5}}}' \ 
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ad_set_id>

See also Travel Multipler Example.

custom_audience

You can adjust bids based on your custom audiences.

Example

curl -X POST \ 
  -F 'bid_adjustments=
     {"user_groups":{"custom_audience":{"<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>":0.8, "<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>":1.0, "default":0.5}}}' \ 
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ad_set_id>

device_platform

Possible breakdown values:

• mobile
• desktop

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "device_platform": {
      "mobile": 0.7,
      "desktop": 0.9
    }
  }
}

gender

Group users by gender:

• male
• female
• default

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "gender": {
      "male": 0.5,
      "female": 0.7,
      "default": 1.0
    }
  }
}

home_location

Possible breakdown values:

• city id
• region id
• 2-digit country code

You can find city id and region id in the Search API. You can query from the Graph API Explorer or from your terminal.

Note: The default can only be set under home_location not cities, regions, or countries.

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "home_location": {
      "cities": {
         "2420605": 0.2
      },
      "regions": {
         "3847": 0.5
      },
      "countries": {
         "US": 0.2
      },
      "default": 0.8
     }
  }
}

length_of_stay

Possible breakdown values include any integer range greater than or equal to 1. For example, “1-3”, “4-9”, and so on.

Example

curl -X POST \ 
  -F 'bid_adjustments=
  {"user_groups":{"length_of_stay":{"event_sources":["123456789"],"1-2":0.1,"3-     5":0.2,"default":0.5}}}' \ 
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ad_set_id>

See also Travel Multipler Example.

locale

You can use locale or locale group IDs, such as 6 for US English or 5 for German.

You can find locale IDs with Targeting Search, Locale with type=adlocale. For example:

{
  "user_groups": {
    "locale": {
      6: 0.8,
      5: 0.3
    }
  }
}

position_type

This category is similar to the position options in the Targeting API. Possible breakdown values:

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "position_type":{
        "facebook_feed":0.9,
        "messenger_messenger_home":0.7,
        "instagram_stream":0.8,
        "audience_network_classic":0.5,
        "default":0.4
    }
  }
}

publisher_platform

Possible breakdown values are:

• facebook
• instagram
• audience_network
• messenger

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "publisher_platform": {
      "facebook": 0.7,
      "instagram": 0.9,
      "default": 1.0 // We'll apply bid multiplier 1.0 if no default is specified anyway
    }
  }
}

travel_start_date

Possible breakdown values include any date range in format _yyyymmdd_-_yyyymmdd_.

Example

curl -X POST \ 
  -F 'bid_adjustments=
     {"user_groups":{"travel_start_date":{"event_sources":["123456789"],"20180901-20181001":0.2,"default":0.9}}}' \ 
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ad_set_id>

See also Travel Multipler Example.

travel_start_day_of_week

Possible breakdown values include any integer between 0 and 6, inclusive. 0 is Monday; 6 is Sunday.

Example

curl -X POST \ 
  -F 'bid_adjustments=
  {"user_groups":{"travel_start_day_of_week":{"event_sources":        ["123456789"],"0":0.1,"2":0.2,"6":0.3,"default":0.9}}}' \ 
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ad_set_id>

See also Travel Multipler Example.

user_bucket

You can send us results of your own user classifier. Then send us an extra user_bucket parameter in pixel fires or app events. User buckets are integers ranging from 0 to 100.

Specify the user bucket group definition with the following format:

• event_sources - Pixel fire or app event source to track.
• event_retention - Optional. Time, in seconds, to ignore old user_bucket values.
• events_dedup_mode - Optional. Flag to indicate which user_bucket value to use when a single event source sends different user_bucket values for the same user. The default value is latest.
• event_source_preference - Optional. Flag to indicate which user_bucket to use when multiple event sources send different user_bucket values for the same user. The default value is latest.

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
   "user_bucket": {
      "event_sources": [<pixel_id>,<app_id>,...],
      "event_retention": 604800, // optional, exclude old events
      
      //optional, useful when multiple event sources have user_bucket
      "events_dedup_mode": "max"|"min"|"latest",
      
      //optional, dedup user_bucket values sent from one single event source
      "event_source_preference": "max"|"min"|"latest",
      
      "1":0.7, // these are the bid multipliers
      "2":1.0,
     }
  }
}

user_device

Possible breakdown values:

• iPad
• iPhone

See other possible values at Targeting Search API with type=adTargetingCategory and class=user_device.

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "user_device": {
      "iPad": 0.7,
      "iPhone": 0.9,
      "default": 1.0
    }
  }
}

Example

curl
  -F 'name=Test BM Adset '$(date +%s) \
  -F 'bid_amount=3000' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS' \
  -F 'daily_budget=15000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=23843038336220329' \
  -F 'promoted_object={"product_set_id":"267888283975766"}' \
  -F 'targeting={
     "geo_locations": {"countries":["AQ"]},
     "dynamic_audience_ids": ["23842885952670329"],
     "publisher_platforms": ["facebook"]
    }' \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"user_device": {"iPad": 0.7, "iPhone": 0.9, "default": 1.0}}}' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED' \
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/act_1653439931385336/adsets

Example

curl
  -F 'name=Test BM Adset '$(date +%s) \
  -F 'bid_amount=3000' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS' \
  -F 'daily_budget=15000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=23843038336220329' \
  -F 'promoted_object={"product_set_id":"267888283975766"}' \
  -F 'targeting={
     "geo_locations": {"countries":["AQ"]},
     "dynamic_audience_ids": ["23842885952670329"],
     "publisher_platforms": ["facebook"]
     }' \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"user_device": {"iPad": 0.7, "iPhone": 0.9, "default": 1.0}}}' \
  -F 'status=PAUSED' \
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \
   https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/act_1653439931385336/adsets
   {"id":"23843038339320329"}

Example

curl
  -F 'access_token='$access_token \
  https://graph.facebook.com/VERSION/ID?fields=bid_adjustments
  {"bid_adjustments":{"user_groups":"{\"user_device\":    {\"default\":1,\"iPad\":0.7,\"iPhone\":0.9}}"},"id":"ID"}

See also Advanced Example.

user_group_weight_spec

Possible breakdown values:

• age
• gender
• device_platform
• publisher_platform
• user_device
• user_os

See also Advanced Example.

Example - The user_group_weight_spec is a JSON structure and looks like this:

{
  <BREAKDOWN_NAME>: {
    <BREAKDOWN_VALUE_1>: <WEIGHT_VALUE> OR <NESTED_USER_GROUP_WEIGHT_SPEC>,
    <BREAKDOWN_VALUE_2>: <WEIGHT_VALUE> OR <NESTED_USER_GROUP_WEIGHT_SPEC>,
    <BREAKDOWN_VALUE_3>: <WEIGHT_VALUE> OR <NESTED_USER_GROUP_WEIGHT_SPEC>,
    ...
    "default": <WEIGHT_VALUE> OR <NESTED_USER_GROUP_WEIGHT_SPEC>, // optional, if not specified, we'll use 1.0
  }
}
{
  "age": {
    "18-25": 0.7,
    "26-35": {
      "gender": {
        "male": 0.9,
        "female": 1.0
      }
    },
    "default": 0.85
  }
}

* For users between the ages of 18 and 25, we apply bid multiplier 0.7.
* For male users between the ages of 26 and 35, we apply bid multiplier 0.9.
* For female users between the ages of 26 and 35, we apply bid multiplier 1.0.
* For all other users, we apply bid multiplier 0.85.

Breakdown values are integer age ranges. For example, 18-25, where the minimum age is 18 and ranges should not overlap.

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "age": {
      "18-25": 0.7,
      "30-40": 1.0,
      "default": 0.3
    }
  }
}

Advanced Example

> curl 
    -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"user_device":{"iPad":0.3,"iPhone":{"user_os":{"Android":0.3,"iOS":{"age":{"18-35":0.3,"35-45":0.4}}}}}}}' -F access_token=$token https://graph.intern.facebook.com/v2.12/6089875504114
{"success":true}%
> curl -G 
   -d access_token=$token https://graph.intern.facebook.com/v2.12/6089875504114\?  fields\=bid_adjustments
{"bid_adjustments":{"user_groups":"{\"user_device\":{\"iPad\":0.3,\"iPhone\":{\"user_os\":{\"Android\":0.3,\"iOS\":{\"age\":{\"18-35\":0.3,\"35-45\":0.4}}}}}}"},"id":"6089875504114"}%

Travel Multiplier Examples

curl -X POST \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"travel_start_day_of_week":{"event_sources":["1862565504034757"],"1":0.1,"3":0.1,"default":0.9}}}' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ADSET_ID>

  Length of Stay 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"length_of_stay":{"event_sources":["1862565504034757"],"1-2":0.1,"3-7":0.2,"default":0.5}}}'
  Booking window 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"booking_window":{"event_sources":["1862565504034757"],"1-2":0.1,"3-7":0.2,"default":0.5}}}'
  Travel start date: 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"travel_start_date":{"event_sources":["1862565504034757"],"20180918-20190101":0.1,"default":0.5}}}'
  Day of week: 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":{"travel_start_day_of_week":{"event_sources":["1862565504034757"],"1":0.1,"2":0.1,"0":0.2,"default":0.5}}}'

user_os

Possible breakdown values:

• iOS
• Windows

See other possible values at Targeting Search API with type=adTargetingCategory and class=user_os.

Current supported values:

• Android
• Windows
• Windows Phone
• iOS

Example

{
  "user_groups": {
    "user_os": {
      "Android": 0.7,
      "iOS": 0.9,
      "default": 1.0
    }
  }
}

user_recency

Group users by time because they have any pixel fire or app events. You must specify which event sources to track and time windows.

Example

This example shows how to apply bid multiplier 1.0 for users who have pixel fire or app events within 86400 seconds, and so on.

{
  "user_groups": {
    "user_recency": {
      "event_sources": [<pixel_id>,<app_id>,...],
      "0-86400": 1.0,
      "86401-172800": 0.7,
      "default": 0.5
    }
  }
}

Cascade Multiple Breakdowns

You can also define user groups with multiple breakdowns by replacing a floating bid multiplier number with a further breakdown specification. For example, an adset with USD 5 bid cap and below config would look like this:

• bid USD 4.5 for male users
• bid USD 3.5 for female users aged between 18 and 25
• bid USD 4.0 for female users aged between 26 and 35
• bid USD 5.0 for all other users

{
  "user_groups": {
    "gender": {
      "male": 0.9,
      "female": {
        "age": {
          "18-25": 0.7,
          "26-35": 0.8
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage Requirements

• The value of the bid multiplier can range from 0.09 to 1.0.

API Calls

Get

curl -G \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<ADSET_ID>?fields=bid_adjustments

Update

curl \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups":<USER_GROUP_WEIGHT_SPEC>}' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<PRODUCT_CATALOG_ID>/<ADSET_ID>

Create or Update Bid Multiplier for an Ad Set

Below is a sample API call to update an existing ad set. (You need to substitute an ad set ID, access token, event sources, and your desired bid multipliers.)

curl -X POST \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={
       "user_groups": {
         "user_bucket": {
           "event_sources": [
             "<PIXEL_ID>",
             "<APP_ID>"
           ],
           "1": 0.1,
           "2": 0.2,
           "3": 0.3,
           "default": {
             "gender": {
               "male": 0.99,
               "female": 0.12
             }
           }
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/<AD_SET_ID>/

Set Up Test Campaign

Create your test campaigns using a conversion lift or split test, working with your Meta account team and measurement lead. To assess performance, we suggest the following cells in a 3-way split test:

• Cell 1 (Control A), Campaign 1 - 1 ad set with 1 bid for all targeted users
• Cell 2 (Control B), Campaign 2 - Multiple ad sets where we create one ad set for each user group. (you can use Website/Mobile Custom Audiences rules to segment based on pixel/app parameters).
• Cell 3 (Test), Campaign 3 - 1 ad set, with different bid multipliers for different user groups. Make sure the adjusted bid for each user group here is the same as the ad set level bid for the corresponding ad set in Cell 2.

Set Up Split Tests

At this point, you should set up split testing and control groups to verify performance using bid multiplier. We run the tests for 1–2 weeks, and don't require a minimum budget. Set up split testing as follows:

• Cell 1, Control A Should contain one ad set with one bid amount and targeting should be based on all user_buckets.
• Cell 2, Control B Should contain multiple ad sets, with one ad set per user_bucket. Each ad set should target a separate user_bucket and corresponding bid. You can use website or mobile custom Audiences rules to further segment your audience based on other Meta Pixel or App Events parameters. See Website Custom Audiences and Mobile App Custom Audiences.
• Cell 3, Test Contains one ad set with your bid_adjustment property to determine different bids for each user_bucket. Your multipliers should correspond to individual ad set bids for Cell 2, Control B.

For more information, see Split Testing.

Set Up Test Campaign

Set up an ad campaign as you do normal campaigns. Contact your Meta representative for help setting up your bid adjustment.

Set up user_groups and different bid multipliers for each group. Your groups are based on demographic properties, such as age, gender, and specific properties, such as user score or loyalty program. For example:

{
   "user_bucket":{
      "business_id":253286871795863,
      "1":0.7,
      "2":1.0,
      "3":{
         "gender":{
            "male":1.0,
            "female":0.8
         }
      },
      "default": 0.9
   }
}

In this example:

• For people with loyalty_program value 1, apply bid multiplier 0.7
• For people with loyalty_program value 2, apply bid multiplier 1.0
• For males with loyalty_program value 3, apply bid multiplier 1.0
• For females with loyalty_program value 3, apply bid multiplier 0.8
• For people with loyalty_program other than 1, 2 or 3, apply bid multiplier 0.9
• For all others, apply bid multiplier 1.0

Now, you can create the ad campaign:

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My Adset with bid multiplier"' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'daily_budget=3000' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'optimization_goal="OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS"' \
  -F 'bid_amount=500' \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={
       "user_groups": {
         "gender": {
           "male": 0.8,
           "female": 1
         }
       }
     }' \
  -F 'promoted_object={
       "product_set_id": "<PRODUCT_SET_ID>",
       "custom_event_type": "ADD_TO_CART"
     }' \
  -F 'targeting={
       "facebook_positions": [
         "feed"
       ],
       "geo_locations": {
         "countries": [
           "US"
         ]
       }
     }' \
  -F 'status="PAUSED"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v21.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Once you create your ad sets, set bid_adjustments on the ad set via the API. The parameter should look something like this:

{
  "user_groups": {
    "user_bucket": {
      "event_sources": [<pixel_id>,<app_id>,...],
      "event_source_preference": "max"|"min"|"latest", //optional, useful when multiple event sources have user_bucket
      "events_dedup_mode": "max"|"min"|"latest", //optional, dedup user_bucket values sent from one single event source
      "event_retention": 604800, // optional, exclude old events
      "1":0.7, // these are the bid multipliers
      "2":1.0,
      "default": { // used in the case that we don't have user_bucket for that user
         gender:{ // this is a nested example, but you could just do "default": 1.0,
            "male": {
              home_location: {
                  cities: { // city id, can be found in search API, eg: search?type=adgeolocation&q=Menlo Park&limit=10
                    "2420605": 0.2,
                  },
                  regions: {
                    "3847": 0.5
                  },
                  countries: {
                    "US": 0.2
                  }
                }
              }
            },
            "female": {
              "user_recency": {
                "event_sources": [<pixel_id>,<app_id>,...],
                "0-86400": 0.5,
                "86400-172800": 0.7,
                "default": 0.2
              }
            }
         },
      },
   },
}

We don't currently validate this parameter. Send your ad set ID to your Meta representative and we can manually check it.

For each event source, the most recently received user_bucket for that user is used. But, if multiple event sources are specified (ex: pixel and app), and 2 or more of them have their own user_bucket recorded, then we take the max of them all.

The following is an example call to update an existing ad set. You should provide your own ad set ID, access token, event sources, and bid multipliers:

curl -X POST 
  -F access_token=<access_token> \
  -F 'bid_adjustments={"user_groups": {"user_bucket": {"event_sources": [<pixel_id>,  <app_id>,...], "1": 0.1, "2": 0.2, "3": 0.3, "default": {"gender": {"male": 0.99, "female": 0.1}} }} }' \ 
  https://graph.facebook.com/<VERSION>/<ad-set-id>