FACEBOOK'S ATLAS AD SERVER

FACEBOOK'S ATLAS AD SERVER: What it is, how it works, and why it could finally move digital advertising beyond 'cookies'

For years, digital marketers have been shackled to an increasingly outdated technology known as the cookie, which are still used to measure and target digital ads.

Cookies — bits of code dropped into web browsers — are known to generate poor approximations of how many people view a digital ad, inaccurate estimates of how many times any given individual sees an ad, not to mention unreliable measures of clicks and sales. Worst of all, cookies are a non-starter within mobile apps. 

In a new in-depth explainer and report from BI Intelligence, we dive into how Facebook-owned Atlas aims to take digital marketing beyond the cookie. Atlas is notable for how it leverages anonymous Facebook identity data to correct cookies' inaccuracies and shine a light into what's happening within the cookie-less world of mobile apps. In addition, Atlas' ambition is to be able to connect offline purchases and conversions to digital ads shown across mobile and the web.