• by Wayne Friedman , July 25, 2014

FBX -- Facebook RTB exchange, where advertising exists on the right side of one's page or in one’s news feed -- is a tempting media platform for many marketers. But where does it go from here?

“It’s a great DR [direct response] tool,” says Christopher Hansen, president of Netmining, at the OMMA Real-Time Buying event in Los Angeles. “There has been lot of inventory available. CPMs [cost per thousand viewer prices] have been cheap relative to other inventory. But if you look at performance, you might get a skewed viewed.”

“I’ll doubt FBX will go into mobile,” says Drew Huening, associate director, Social Channel, of VivaKi. “So what is the future of FBX?”

Somewhat of a mystery is that Facebook executives aren’t always pushing FBX. “They kind of left FBX on its own,” says Ryan Johnson, Head of Interaction, MediaCom LA.

Not too much of a surprise, but newer creative messages work better on FBX. Kelly Wrather, senior content marketing manager, Kenshoo, says dynamic ads outperformed static ads, with e-commerce, travel and DR marketers doing well.

“I get sucked into the newsfeed ads -- they are so compelling,” says Hansen.

For many there is brand safety with FBX, says Wrather, versus other RTB platforms -- even if you don’t know what posts your ads will run next to. “There is inherent trust.”