• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, March 9, 2017

Facebook began testing a new advanced measurement tool focused on reach and attribution, the company said Tuesday.

Advertisers will have the ability to use Advanced Measurement to determine which media and platforms, such as Google search and display or Facebook and Instagram, had the highest reach to their targeted audience or drove the most purchases in their online store.

The launch comes as Google and Facebook struggle to improve their measurement technologies and become more transparent in the data collected. In recent months, Facebook admitted to making errors, both over-counting and undercounting its measurement metrics.

Google recently agreed to have an official agency, the Media Rating Council, audit the metrics and technology integrated by third-party companies into YouTube’s Web site and mobile applications.

Companies like Innovid have been working with Facebook for months to support the new measurement tool.

With the news, Facebook also said it continues to transition technology and employees who once worked on the Atlas platform to the new system.

"In September, we began integrating the Atlas team into our broader measurement organization to build the tools to make this possible," according to Facebook.

Facebook's Advanced Measurement tool will become available to advertisers in the Business Manager section of Facebook's site using technology from the Atlas ad server and measurement platform acquired by Facebook from Microsoft in 2013.

Last year Facebook shuttered the ad-serving portion of the Atlas business. Now Facebook said its measurement tools will become the main destination for "people-based, cross-publisher measurement" and will eventually integrate "additional measurement tools for performance and brand marketers" within the advanced measurement umbrella. The company said it also will begin transitioning brands using Atlas to the advanced measurement products.