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Facebook opens up mobile ads
MUMBAI: In an effort to silence critics about its ability to monetise its mobile platform, Facebook is now automating mobile-ad buying.
The company earlier accepted that monetising its massive mobile traffic is among its biggest challenges as its stock price continues to tumble.
Facebook has opened up its mobile-only sponsored-story placements to both its self-serve tool Power Editor and to third-party Facebook ad sellers. In the most basic sense it is a provision for mobile ads for the masses as it now enables clients who couldn‘t afford access to mobile-ad inventory earlier.
With this, the industry may see a new segment of advertisers emerge who want to target a specific audience like app developers or gaming companies aiming to increase user base on phones or marketers in industries such as quick-serve restaurants looking to reach people on the go.
Mobile ads are available on Facebook since March but the mobile-ad inventory largely accessible to big advertisers buying into premium ad packages, including those new ad placements called reach generator.
Reach generator was only open to advertisers with a minimum of 500,000 fans which could add up to total costs of $125,000 per quarter. The new changes have made Facebook mobile ads available to a larger pool of advertisers with any size budget. It also opens up Facebook mobile ads to small- and medium-size businesses that use the self-serve tool.
Advertising forms a major chunk of Facebook‘s $3.7 billion revenue. According to EMarketer 60 per cent of Facebook‘s ad revenue comes through its self-serve tool which will probably increase as Facebook opens up more ad slots to these sales tools.
Facebook had announced prior to its initial public offering that the consumers‘ appetite for its mobile app would soon exceed use of its website and could prove damaging to its business. At the time, Facebook was not generating ‘any meaningful revenue‘ from use of its mobile products.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
