Updates to Ads Formats

Thanks to feedback from partners worldwide, we are pleased to share several updates to our ads product and policies. The goal of these updates is to allow publishers to bring their existing business to Instant Articles, while maintaining a great reading experience for people.

Here's what's changing:

1. Expanded options for direct sold ad formats:

Starting on October 20, we will support larger and non-standard sizes for direct sold ads, including all ad sizes up to an aspect ratio of 2:3. We will not support, per existing policy, any ad formats that block content or that expand, collapse or move around the screen.

Here are some sample formats that will be supported in Instant Articles:

2. Enhancements to Audience Network:

We have fully rolled out video and carousel ad formats across iOS and Android, expanding the options for native, high value and engaging ad formats for our publishing partners who monetize their articles or unfilled inventory with Audience Network.

To take advantage of these updates, publishers will need to:

• Direct sold premium ad formats: You will need to configure your ad server to deliver approved non-standard or larger units into the web view in Instant Articles. Keep in mind the following tips as you implement your ads:

  • For the best user experience, specify default height and width attributes in the article markup (if you use multiple size ads, specify your most common ad size). This will prevent text and other elements from moving around on the page as the ad loads. Based on the response from the ad server, the ad will be automatically sized to fit the display screen.
  • The height of an ad in relation to its width cannot exceed a 2:3 ratio in Instant Articles. Any ads that exceed the 2:3 ratio will be automatically cropped from the bottom.
  • This update should enable you to package Instant Articles inventory together with your mobile web inventory to make the process as seamless as possible for your ad sales and operations teams.

• Enhancements to Audience Network: Updates to new formats will happen automatically, with no action required from publishers.

• General best practices to maximize yield: We recommend using the Automatic Ads Placement feature and using the Audience Network to backfill any unfilled ad slots for publishers who direct sell ads into Instant Articles.

  • The Automatic Ads Placement feature optimizes ad placement for both direct-sold and Audience Network ads within the Instant Articles policies framework. We are continuously learning and improving on ad placement for maximum publisher value and optimal user experience. To learn more, read this blog post.
  • Audience Network brings relevant, native ads with people-based targeting from Facebook's 4 million advertisers. For publishers who direct sell ads, integrating with Audience Network to monetize any unsold or unfilled ad slots within Instant Articles ensures maximum ads fill rate and improves yield.

To learn more visit our detailed policy and our developer documentation.