“We’ve designed Meta Lattice to drive advertiser performance in the new digital advertising environment where we have access to less granular data.”
Facebook’s ad business was kneecapped by Apple’s iOS 14 update, which severely impacted Meta’s ability to collect usage data.
The company’s bottom line took a massive hit, to the tune of $10 billion, it asked customers to “hang in there”, and basically declared war on Apple with ads like these:
Now Facebook is fighting back with Meta Lattice, a new ad delivery process that uses multiple data points to better predict likely ad responses, through AI and other predictive technology.
According to the company, Meta Lattice is “a new model architecture that learns to predict an ad’s performance across a variety of datasets and optimization goals that were previously supported by numerous smaller, siloed models.”
Translation: Even if it doesn’t have direct data insight from each person, the Lattice system is able to deduce likely user responses, by combining information from across Meta’s different surfaces—e.g., Newsfeed, Stories, Reels—elements that were previously measured in isolation.
Meta’s models are now able to better understand likely individual behaviors by cross-referencing a wider array of data points, predicting likely ad interest through more advanced mapping.
Lattice is one way we’re using AI more broadly and deeply to enhance Meta’s ads system. The system will now continuously learn the essential characteristics that improve ad performance across various surfaces, objectives, and ad types simultaneously.
Meta AI team
Lattice enhances Meta’s ads system in 3 major ways:
“In early tests on Instagram, the technology increased performance for advertisers,” reports Bloomberg’s Alex Barinka.
“Meta has been under pressure to rediscover growth in its core digital advertising business. Last month, the company reported that revenue increased after falling for the previous three consecutive quarters — its first-ever sales declines. That first-quarter report suggests the possible end of a difficult stretch in which a choppy economy depressed marketer spending and iOS privacy changes from Apple Inc. made ads on smartphones less effective.”
Going forward, we’ll continue iterating on Meta Lattice. This new architecture creates a more nimble system — one that’s more adaptable to broader market changes, can quickly utilize new AI innovations & operates more efficiently to deliver results that help businesses grow.
Meta AI team
For publishers, Facebook’s methodology is an insight into the possibilities that exist even when major platforms cut off certain data sources. It is also a legally compliant, and usable, bypass system.