08/28/2026
Meta is testing a future where you can't pick individual placements, platforms, devices, or operating systems at the ad set level. Advertisers are nervous.
It's me. I'm advertiser.
We try to squeeze every cent out of our client's budget and this *could be* taking some of that away.
From what I've read, it's the next step toward value rules taking over delivery control. The test is limited to Sales and Leads objectives. For now...
Special ad categories are excluded. We don't use these either (win!) Only advertisers using the new multimedia workflow will see it.
Most people won't lose anything right away. And even in the test, you keep a lot of levers.
Value rules still let you adjust bids by placement. You can still separate mobile from desktop.
You can target a specific mobile OS. The real loss is the ability to kill an entire platform like Instagram or Facebook in one click.
That's a big deal for some advertisers. But it's not the disaster it seems.
Most placement removal is driven by fear of cheap traffic. I've seen it a hundred times.
Someone notices a run of low-quality clicks from Audience Network and immediately excludes it. The problem is that when you optimize for link clicks or landing page views, cheap low quality actions have a way of popping up somewhere else.
Cutting off one placement doesn't fix a broken optimization goal. The same happens with ThruPlay views.
Audience Network Rewarded Video serves tons of cheap views to people who watch for virtual currency. It's frustrating.
But using a view goal when you actually care about engagement is the root cause. Purchase campaigns rarely need placement exclusions.
You might see a run of junk leads from one surface. That's a signal to improve your lead quality rules, not to nuke a placement.
Value rules are already the better tool. You can bid down or up based on where a person sees your ad.
That keeps the inventory alive but stops rewarding bad placements. Meta is adding more placement support to value rules all the time.
If you really need broad controls, you can still use account-level placement settings.
Those are blunt and apply everywhere, so I'd use them carefully. Here's the practical takeaway:
Check your objective first: If you're running Sales or Leads with the new workflow, plan for fewer placement controls.
If you're running something else, you've got time. *thank the Lord above* But we're going to have to stop treating placement control as a safety net.
Next time you feel the urge to exclude Audience Network, try a value rule that lowers your bid by 20% for that placement.
Watch what happens. You keep the cheap inventory but stop rewarding it.
That's the kind of control you won't lose.
