Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, has defended its mobile advertising plan, saying it will be “more important” than television.
HumanIPO reported earlier this month Facebook had launched its ‘Home’ on Android, which will allow adverts to pop up onto users’ screen, even if it is locked and not being actively used at the time.
But Sandberg, speaking to journalists in London on Monday, said the goal was “not to increase the number of ads you receive, but to increase the usefulness of those ads to you”.
The Guardian reported her saying: “The size of the audience makes this – the phone – a mass medium. It’s as important to a marketer as TV.”
She added: “This is as important – if not more important – than television.”
Advertisements first started appearing on the Facebook Apple and Android apps last year and, according to research firm eMarketer, the social network took an 18.4 per cent of the entire mobile ad display market last year.
