Marketing API

Get Started with Format Automation

This document shows you how to enable format automation so you can create a single ad that automatically delivers multiple optimized ad formats.

Before You Start

Familiarize yourself with these topics to set up your ad campaigns for format automation:

Permissions

  • page_manage_ads

Limitations

  • Format automation only supports carousel Advantage+ catalog ads.

Create an Advantage+ Catalog Ad using Format Transformation

You can use the format_transformation_spec paramter to opt-in to different types of formats and data sources used to build the formats.

Not including the format_transformation_spec in the creative spec will result in the default system behavior.

Example request

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="Ad Creative with Format Transformation Spec Sample"' \
  -F 'object_story_spec={
    "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>"
    ... // Fields to create a Advantage+ catalog ad carousel creative \
  }' \
  -F 'product_set_id=<PRODUCT_SET_ID>' \
  -F 'asset_feed_spec= {
    "ad_formats": [
      "CAROUSEL",
      "COLLECTION"
    ],
    "optimization_type": "FORMAT_AUTOMATION"
  }' \
  -F 'format_transformation_spec=[{
    "data_source": ["catalog"],
    "format": "da_collection"
  }]' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives

Parameters

NameDescription

format

Required.
Specifies the format transformation type.
Value: da_collection

data_source

Optional.
Specifies the data used to assemble the format.
Values:

  • none: Opts out of all data sources.
  • catalog: Opts into the catalog data source.

Note: Not including the data_source field or leaving it empty indicates an opt-in to all data sources available.

To opt into format automation, specify the format transformations format:

"format_transformation_spec": [
  {
    "format": "da_collection", 
  }
]

To opt-out of all transformations and data sources, set the data_source parameter to none:

"format_transformation_spec": [
  {
    "format": "da_collection", 
    "data_source": ["none"],
  }
]

To opt into the catalog data source set the data_source parameter to catalog:

"format_transformation_spec": [
  {
    "format": "da_collection", 
    "data_source": ["catalog"]
  }
]

Leave the data_source field empty to opt into all data_sources:

"format_transformation_spec": [
  {
    "format": "da_collection", 
    "data_source": []
  }
]

Retrieve the Format Transformation

To check your ad, make an API call requesting the format_transformation_spec:

Example request

curl -G \
  -d 'fields=format_transformation_spec' \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/<CREATIVE_ID>

Example response

{
  {
    "format_transformation_spec": [
    {
      "data_source": ["catalog"]
      "format": "da_collection"
    }]
  },
  "id": <AD_CREATIVE_ID>
}

See Also