Hasta La Creative!

Facebook announced today that it’s reducing the number of available ad products from 27 to less than half that amount over the next six months.

While the “streamlining” was characterized as a work in progress, one thing that’s on the chopping block is “sponsored stories” as a standalone product. Introduced in 2011 and once the core of Facebook’s strategy to promote its ads product as uniquely social, sponsored stories contain a social layer and inform users if their friends have engaged with a brand on the platform (by liking or commenting on one of its posts, for example.)

There are currently 13 different types of sponsored stories (including one that delivers context about friends who have played with a game.) By the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth, Facebook intends to direct advertisers to buy one ad format that will include the richest social context available. (And in the event that no social context is available — meaning a user’s friends haven’t engaged with the brand — a more stripped-down news-feed ad with just a picture and text would appear, for example.)

Continue reading at AdAge.com