Mobile Ad World Braces for Facebook’s Move Into Measurement

Facebook next week is expected to announce a tool to help mobile app developers measure whether an ad caused people to download an app, a move designed to help entrench Facebook’s tech across the online ad industry.

Several people briefed about the technology told The Information about the service, which is expected to be announced at Facebook’s major developer conference beginning March 25. One of the most interesting aspects of it is that it will determine how ads perform whether they are bought on Facebook or other apps. That could get more advertisers using it and allow Facebook to incentivize those advertisers to buy more ads on Facebook.

The move will have repercussions for all Facebook advertisers as well as startups that already track the performance of app-install ads on Facebook, Google, Twitter and Apple’s iAd.