By: Anthony Tat | @tatanthony

Facebook recently announced a new update that improves ad viewability and reporting for advertisers by offering a new way to purchase and measure impressions. If you remember our infographic on how to Make Social Measurable, we showed you how your metrics are vital for aligning your campaign objectives and measuring your results to determine ROI. This new update will help you better measure your metrics and gain more control over your Facebook advertising campaigns.

The update offers a new buying option that will allow advertisers to choose to only pay for 100% in-view impressions. These impressions are only counted when the entire ad has passed through a viewer’s News Feed. This will ultimately lead to fewer impressions for the same amount spent, resulting in higher a CPC (Cost Per Click). Much like the last time Facebook refined the way they measure and charge for impressions, many advertisers will raise their torches and pitchforks, criticizing Facebook for killing their impressions.

Earlier this year, Facebook made the switch from served impressions to viewed impressions. Served impressions were counted when a system registered a request by a publisher to deliver an ad. There were some inaccuracies with this type of impression. The ad could be on its way to delivery when the viewer prematurely leaves the site before the ad actually loads. Even if the ad loaded, it could have been displayed at the bottom of a page where the viewer did not even scroll to before leaving the site. Essentially, you could get charged for an ad impression without anyone actually seeing the ad. On the other hand, a viewed impression is exactly as it sounds: it is an impression where the ad was viewed by someone. This meant the ad had to show up on a viewer’s screen to be counted as an impression. As you can tell from the comment below, people were not happy about this change.

This commenter makes a valid point… assuming you only care about the raw numbers you report to your boss. Sure, it sounds better to generate 1,000 impressions for $5 rather than 100 impressions, but what good are those extra 900 impressions if no one viewed the ad? The newer, smaller impression count was far more accurate in measuring campaign results.

So, is Facebook killing your impressions with their latest method of measurement? Absolutely not. Simply put, 100% In-View Impressions are Viewed Impressions 2.0. Not only does the ad have to show up on a viewer’s screen, it has to completely pass through their newsfeed, almost guaranteeing the ad to be consciously perceived by the viewer. This new metric will give you more control over your campaigns by measuring a more meaningful type of impression. They are more qualified impressions. If you really don’t like the change, you can always keep measuring viewed impressions. For everyone else, be on the lookout for this new buying option as the update rolls out to advertisers. It will be available for every type of News Feed ad, including photos, videos, links, and text ads.

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New Buying Option for Facebook Ad Impressions