News feed ads are advertisements naturally integrated within the content of websites and apps.

Compared to traditional ads, news feed ads focus more on blending seamlessly with the user’s content consumption experience, appearing more like an article, a social media post, or a video. This integration makes news feed ads one of the most acceptable forms of advertising for users.

The logic behind news feed ad displays is a complex system that incorporates elements of ad bidding, algorithmic recommendations, and ad optimization.

Each platform has its unique display logic, but all aim to enhance user experience and ad effectiveness through precise targeting and quality content. Understanding the intricacies of news feed ad logic, especially bidding mechanisms, targeting technologies, content optimization, and network environments, requires a deep dive into these influencing factors.

Today, let’s explore the news feed ad display logic and the factors behind it on China’s mainstream social media platforms.

Mainstream Social Platform Ads Display Logic

Xiaohongshu

As a lifestyle sharing platform, Xiaohongshu's ad display logic also emphasizes content matching and user interests. Its targeted ads can precisely serve ads based on users' browsing and search history.

Weibo

Weibo's ad system considers both bid amount and user interests. It determines the ads users might be interested in based on their behavior data, while also taking into account the bidding results. Additionally, Weibo allows advertisers to target ads based on multiple dimensions such as geographic location, gender, and interests.

Zhihu

Zhihu emphasizes the relevance of content, so its ad display not only considers the bid but also the degree to which the ad content matches the content the user is reading. Zhihu’s targeting capabilities are also robust, allowing ads to be served based on users' question and answer history and interest points.

Bilibili

Bilibili focuses on user community belonging and interests, thus its ad display logic emphasizes matching user interests. Besides the basic bidding system, Bilibili also considers users' viewing history and interaction records to serve ads.

Tencent Ads

Tencent's advertising spans multiple platforms like QQ and WeChat, with its ad display logic considering user profiles, bids, and content relevance. Tencent’s ad system can serve highly relevant ads based on users' social behaviors and interests.

Factors Influencing Ad Display Logic

Combining the characteristics of these advertising platforms, let’s discuss the specific factors influencing ad display logic:

1.  Bidding

In news feed ad systems, bidding is often a key factor in determining whether an ad is displayed and its position. There are generally two types of bidding mechanisms: the traditional highest bidder wins model (Generalized First-Price, GFP) and the quality-adjusted bid model (Generalized Second Price, GSP).

GFP (Generalized First-Price):

GFP is the most straightforward auction format where the highest bidder wins the ad spot and pays the price they bid. This model encourages advertisers to bid as close to their valuation of the ad spot as possible, but can lead to "bidding wars" and escalating ad costs.

GSP (Generalized Second-Price):

GSP is the most widely used mechanism in programmatic advertising, considering not only the advertiser's bid but also the quality score of the ad, i.e., ads are ranked based on their "effective bid" (advertiser's bid × ad quality score). 

2.  Targeting

Targeting technology allows advertisers to serve ads based on various dimensions such as geographic location, age, gender, and interests. The core of this technology is building accurate user profiles to make ad displays more relevant to specific user groups.

3.Ad Content and Copy

High-quality ad content and compelling copy are crucial for increasing user click-through rates, directly affecting the ad's immediate effectiveness and influencing the ad's quality score.

4.Network Environment

The user's network environment directly impacts the ad's loading speed and display. Optimizing ad content load times to ensure quick presentation under various network conditions is key to enhancing user experience.

5.Algorithmic Recommendations

Modern news feed ad systems widely employ sophisticated algorithms to optimize ad displays, ensuring that the ads are both relevant and appealing to users.

The logic behind news feed ads is a highly complex and dynamic system that involves disciplines such as advertising, data science and computer science, and marketing. Successful ad placements require advertisers to not only understand these fundamental principles but also continually test and optimize their advertising strategies.