Meta eliminates detailed targeting exclusions for new ad campaigns

Meta has removed detailed targeting exclusions for all new ad campaigns.

Meta didn't officially announce this until last week, although it had accidentally informed advertisers of the upcoming change with a note sent out in May.

Previously, Meta’s detailed targeting exclusions allowed advertisers to exclude certain demographics, interests, or behaviors from their ad audiences. While this feature was intended to help refine targeting, Meta found that it actually reduced ad effectiveness over time, despite advertisers' expectations.

With Meta’s advanced AI systems, ad targeting is now more efficient, displaying the right ads to the right users, thus improving overall campaign performance. As such, detailed targeting exclusions have become more of a hindrance.

Meta reports that removing these exclusions has improved the median cost per conversion for ad campaigns by 22.6%.

Meta first indicated a change in its targeting exclusions in January by removing and consolidating some options due to low usage. In May, they alerted advertisers that detailed targeting exclusions would be fully removed by June 28th, later clarifying that this notice was sent in error and there were no plans to remove the option.

However, a month later, the exclusions were removed. For new campaigns, these exclusions are no longer available, but existing campaigns using them will remain unaffected until January 31st, 2025.

Meta warns that from January 31st, campaigns using detailed targeting exclusions will stop delivering ads and a warning banner will appear if this happens.

Advertisers can still use other exclusion options, such as custom audience exclusions and account-level audience controls for brand protection or employment restrictions.

Overall, Meta's data suggests that the removal of these exclusions might be beneficial. Their automated Advantage+ campaigns are yielding strong results, indicating this change could be positive overall.

This move aligns with Meta’s future vision of fully automated ad campaigns, where advertisers will simply input a product URL, and Meta’s AI will generate optimized ad descriptions, custom visuals, and a range of variants for the campaign.

While it may seem counterintuitive, Meta’s system, built on extensive ad and audience engagement knowledge, might be more effective at creating ads that resonate with users.