Facebook Ad Metrics Questioned by Analyst

[engine]

Facebook's ad metrics are being questioned by an analyst and suggests third party verification may be the way forward.

The example given is where Facebook's figure for reach shows 41 million in the 18 to 24 year olds for the the US, and the analyst says the US census data shows there 31 million people of that age group in the country.

Facebook said in a statement that its audience estimates did not match census data, but added that this was by design as ad reach numbers “are designed to estimate how many people in a given area are eligible to see an ad a business might run. They are not designed to match population or census estimates”. Facebook Ad Metrics Questioned by Analyst [reuters.com]

[NickMNS]

The census data cannot be trusted, as it fails to include bots in its data.