Marketing API
Graph API Version

Custom Audience

Build an audience of your customers, website visitors, mobile app visitors or people similar to them. To add or remove users from a Custom Audience, please see the Custom Audience User guide.

To use Custom Audiences, the Business’ users must first sign our Terms Of Service contracts. Learn more about Custom Audience Terms Of Service.

Reading

Custom audiences allow advertisers to target their ads to a specific set of people with whom they have already established a relationship on/off Facebook. Audiences can be defined by either email address, Facebook UIDs, phone numbers, names, date of birth, gender, locations, app user IDs, Apple's Advertising Identifier (IDFA), Android's advertising ID or by a combination of rules used to identify users who took specific actions on your website.

When utilizing Facebook UIDs please ensure you comply with Facebook Platform Terms and Developer Policies. An advertiser must accept Custom Audience's terms of service in order to use the product. You can query which terms a given account accepted by checking the field tos_accepted of a given ad account. You can find more information at the ad account node documentation.

Examples

By audience ID:

use FacebookAds\Object\CustomAudience;

$custom_audience = new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>);
$custom_audience->read();
from facebookads.adobjects.customaudience import CustomAudience

audience = CustomAudience('<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>')
audience.remote_read()
CustomAudience customAudience2 = new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>, context).get()
  .execute();
curl -G \
  -d 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>

By ad account edge:

Note: Some types of custom audiences are not available through the ad account edge (e.g. Study Audience) however you can get their details by querying the CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID directly.

Parameters

ParameterDescription
ad_account_id
numeric string

ID of the recipient ad account in which custom audience is used.

Fields

FieldDescription
id
numeric string

Custom audience ID

Default
account_id
numeric string

Ad Account ID

approximate_count
int32

Approximate number of people in this audience. A call for this field returns -1 for inactive lookalikes.

customer_file_source
string

Source of customer information in the uploaded file

data_source
CustomAudienceDataSource

JSON dictionary of type, sub_type to indicate by which method the custom audience was created.
Note: Subtypes IG_BUSINESS_EVENTS, FB_EVENT_SIGNALS and MULTI_DATA_EVENTS can only be created through Ads Manager, Audience Manager, and not through the API.

delivery_status
CustomAudienceStatus

JSON dictionary of code and description. It indicates whether or not an audience can be used in ads. Possible values include:

  • 200: Returned if the audience is active and ready to be used.
  • 300: Returned if the audience is smaller than it should be. This audience is currently inactive and cannot be used.
  • 400 and above: Returned if the audience is not usable for a variety of reasons, including policy violation.

description
string

Custom audience description

external_event_source
AdsPixel

Read-only JSON dictionary with key id containing the pixel id whose traffic generated this custom audience

is_value_based
bool

Whether the audience is used to seed value based lookalike

lookalike_audience_ids
list<numeric string>

The IDs of the lookalike audiences generated from this audience

lookalike_spec
LookalikeSpec

Generated only when the subtype is LOOKALIKE. More info at Lookalike Audience

name
string

Custom audience name

operation_status
CustomAudienceStatus

JSON dictionary of code to int value and description to a description string. The operation status represents the status of the last operation performed on an audience. In general, it will have following states:

  • 0: Status not available
  • 200: Normal. There is no updating or issues found
  • 400: Warning. There is some message we would like advertisers to know
  • 410: No upload. No file has been uploaded
  • 411: Low match rate. Low rate of matched people
  • 412: High rate of invalid entries in the last upload session. Customer file has unusable data
  • 421: No pixel. Your Facebook pixel hasn't been installed on your website yet
  • 422: Pixel not firing. Your Facebook pixel isn't firing
  • 423: Invalid pixel. Your Facebook pixel is invalid
  • 431: Lookalike Audience refresh failed
  • 432: Lookalike Audience build failed
  • 433: Lookalike Audience build failed
  • 434: Lookalike Audience build retrying
  • 441: We're finding people who fit your audience criteria. You can start running ads with this audience right away, but be aware that your audience size will increase as the audience is populated
  • 442: Your Custom Audience could not be prefilled
  • 450: This audience either hasn't been used in an ad for at least 30 days or was created over 90 days ago and has never been used. For this reason, your audience is out of date.
  • 470: The account that created this audience is no longer active
  • 500: Error: there is some error and advertisers need to take action items to fix the error

opt_out_link
string

Your opt-out URL so people can choose not to be targeted

permission_for_actions
AudiencePermissionForActions

JSON dictionary of permissions (string) to boolean value if the custom audience has that permission

pixel_id
numeric string

ID of the pixel which is collecting events for this Website Custom audience

retention_days
int32

Number of days to keep the user in this cluster. You can use any value between 1 and 180 days. Defaults to forever, if not specified. Only available for Customer File Custom Audience, including Custom Audiences created from CRM data.

rule
string

Audience rules to be applied on the referrer URL

rule_aggregation
string

Aggregation on top of the rule, examples of aggregations include: count, sum etc

sharing_status
CustomAudienceSharingStatus

Sharing status of this custom audience for the ad account

subtype
string

Type of custom audience, derived from original data source.
Note: Subtypes IG_BUSINESS, FB_EVENT, EXPERIMENTAL and MULTI_DATA can only be created through Ads Manager, Audience Manager, and not through the API.

time_content_updated
unsigned int32

Last update of people in this custom audience, this field is only supported for Customer List Custom Audiences.

time_created
unsigned int32

Creation time

time_updated
unsigned int32

Last time this audience metadata was updated

Edges

EdgeDescription
adaccounts

The ad account ids associated with this custom audience

ads

Ads that are using this custom audience

sessions

Data upload sessions of this custom audience

shared_account_info

List of Ad Accounts and Businesses this Audience is shared to

Error Codes

ErrorDescription
100Invalid parameter
80003There have been too many calls to this ad-account. Wait a bit and try again. For more info, please refer to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/overview/rate-limiting.
200Permissions error
190Invalid OAuth 2.0 Access Token

Creating

Limitations

  • subtype for engagement custom audiences is only supported for video.
  • Mobile App Custom Audiences for inclusion targeting is no longer supported for the POST /{ad-account-id}/adsets endpoint for iOS 14+ SKAdNetwork campaigns.
  • New iOS 14+ app install campaigns will no longer be able to use app connections targeting.

Examples

Create a blank audience:

curl \
  -F 'name="My new CA"' \
  -F 'subtype=CUSTOM' \
  -F 'description="People who bought from my website"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v10.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences

You can make a POST request to customaudiences edge from the following paths:
When posting to this edge, a CustomAudience will be created.

Example

Graph API Explorer
POST /v10.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences HTTP/1.1
Host: graph.facebook.com

name=My+new+Custom+Audience&subtype=CUSTOM&description=People+who+purchased+on+my+website&customer_file_source=USER_PROVIDED_ONLY
/* PHP SDK v5.0.0 */
/* make the API call */
try {
  // Returns a `Facebook\FacebookResponse` object
  $response = $fb->post(
    '/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences',
    array (
      'name' => 'My new Custom Audience',
      'subtype' => 'CUSTOM',
      'description' => 'People who purchased on my website',
      'customer_file_source' => 'USER_PROVIDED_ONLY',
    ),
    '{access-token}'
  );
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookResponseException $e) {
  echo 'Graph returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookSDKException $e) {
  echo 'Facebook SDK returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
}
$graphNode = $response->getGraphNode();
/* handle the result */
/* make the API call */
FB.api(
    "/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences",
    "POST",
    {
        "name": "My new Custom Audience",
        "subtype": "CUSTOM",
        "description": "People who purchased on my website",
        "customer_file_source": "USER_PROVIDED_ONLY"
    },
    function (response) {
      if (response && !response.error) {
        /* handle the result */
      }
    }
);
Bundle params = new Bundle();
params.putString("name", "My new Custom Audience");
params.putString("subtype", "CUSTOM");
params.putString("description", "People who purchased on my website");
params.putString("customer_file_source", "USER_PROVIDED_ONLY");
/* make the API call */
new GraphRequest(
    AccessToken.getCurrentAccessToken(),
    "/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences",
    params,
    HttpMethod.POST,
    new GraphRequest.Callback() {
        public void onCompleted(GraphResponse response) {
            /* handle the result */
        }
    }
).executeAsync();
NSDictionary *params = @{
  @"name": @"My new Custom Audience",
  @"subtype": @"CUSTOM",
  @"description": @"People who purchased on my website",
  @"customer_file_source": @"USER_PROVIDED_ONLY",
};
/* make the API call */
FBSDKGraphRequest *request = [[FBSDKGraphRequest alloc]
                               initWithGraphPath:@"/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences"
                                      parameters:params
                                      HTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request startWithCompletionHandler:^(FBSDKGraphRequestConnection *connection,
                                      id result,
                                      NSError *error) {
    // Handle the result
}];
curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My new Custom Audience"' \
  -F 'subtype="CUSTOM"' \
  -F 'description="People who purchased on my website"' \
  -F 'customer_file_source="USER_PROVIDED_ONLY"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v10.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/customaudiences
If you want to learn how to use the Graph API, read our Using Graph API guide.

Parameters

ParameterDescription
allowed_domains
list<string>

A list of domains that the audience is restricted to.

claim_objective
enum {AUTOMOTIVE_MODEL, COLLABORATIVE_ADS, HOME_LISTING, MEDIA_TITLE, PRODUCT, TRAVEL, VEHICLE, VEHICLE_OFFER}

Specifies the objective of audiences with CLAIM subtype.

content_type
enum {AUTOMOTIVE_MODEL, DESTINATION, FLIGHT, HOME_LISTING, HOTEL, LOCAL_SERVICE_BUSINESS, LOCATION_BASED_ITEM, MEDIA_TITLE, OFFLINE_PRODUCT, PRODUCT, VEHICLE, VEHICLE_OFFER}

Specifies a mandatory content type for TRAVEL claim objective.

customer_file_source
enum {USER_PROVIDED_ONLY, PARTNER_PROVIDED_ONLY, BOTH_USER_AND_PARTNER_PROVIDED}

Source of customer information in the uploaded file.

dataset_id
numeric string or integer

The offline conversion dataset associated with this audience.

description
string

The description for this custom audience

enable_fetch_or_create
boolean

If true, we fetch a custom audience instead of creating one when an identical custom audience already exists. Identical custom audiences must have same name, claim_objective, content_type, event_source_group/event_sources/sliced_event_source_group, inclusions, exclusions and rule.

event_source_group
numeric string or integer

Specifies event source group for TRAVEL claim objective.

event_sources
array<JSON object>

Specifies event sources for TRAVEL claim objective.

id
int64

id

Required
type
enum {APP, OFFLINE_EVENTS, PAGE, PIXEL}

type

Required
is_value_based
boolean

Whether the audience is used to seed a new value based lookalike audience.

list_of_accounts
list<int64>

List of user and page accounts

lookalike_spec
JSON-encoded string

The specification for creating a lookalike audience.

name
string

The name of this custom audience.

opt_out_link
string

Your opt-out URL so people can choose not to be targeted.

origin_audience_id
numeric string or integer

The ID of origin Custom Audience.The origin audience you create must have a minimum size of 100.

pixel_id
numeric string or integer

The pixel associated with this audience

prefill
boolean

You can specify true or false. true includes website traffic recorded prior to the audience creation, and false only includes website traffic beginning at the time of the audience creation.

product_set_id
numeric string or integer

The Product Set to target with this audience

retention_days
int64

Number of days to keep the user in this cluster. You can use any value between 1 and 180 days. Defaults to forever, if not specified.

rule
string

Audience rule to be applied on the referrer URL. Used for website custom audiences, product audiences, and video remarketing audiences.

rule_aggregation
string

Aggregation rule

subtype
enum {CUSTOM, WEBSITE, APP, OFFLINE_CONVERSION, CLAIM, PARTNER, MANAGED, VIDEO, LOOKALIKE, ENGAGEMENT, BAG_OF_ACCOUNTS, STUDY_RULE_AUDIENCE, FOX, MEASUREMENT, REGULATED_CATEGORIES_AUDIENCE}

Type of custom audience, derived from original data source.
Note: COMBINATION subtype is only used by Ads Manager, and is not available through the API.

Number of audiences limit for selected subtype:
CUSTOM: 500
LOOKALIKE: 10000

Return Type

This endpoint supports read-after-write and will read the node represented by id in the return type.
Struct {
id: numeric string,
message: string,
}

Error Codes

ErrorDescription
2654Failed to create custom audience
200Permissions error
100Invalid parameter
2663Terms of service has not been accepted. To accept, go to https://www.facebook.com/customaudiences/app/tos
2633This shared login is disabled. Go to Ads Manager for more information.
80003There have been too many calls to this ad-account. Wait a bit and try again. For more info, please refer to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/overview/rate-limiting.
368The action attempted has been deemed abusive or is otherwise disallowed

Updating

If a person opted out of being targeted, you must remove the person from all custom audiences containing this person. To opt-out a person from audience after they have clicked through to your opt-out URL, make an HTTP DELETE call to:

https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/usersofanyaudience

Provide the same fields as you do in a user update.

This will remove the people you specify from ALL custom file custom audiences belonging to the specified ad account.

Examples

To update the audience name:

use FacebookAds\Object\CustomAudience;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\CustomAudienceFields;

$audience = new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>);

$audience->setData(array(
  CustomAudienceFields::NAME => 'Updated Name for CA',
));

$audience->update();

echo $audience->{CustomAudienceFields::NAME}.PHP_EOL;
from facebookads.adobjects.customaudience import CustomAudience

audience = CustomAudience('<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>')
audience[CustomAudience.Field.name] = 'Updated name for CA'
audience.remote_update()
new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>, context).update()
  .setName("Updated Name for CA")
  .execute();
curl \
  -F 'name=Updated Name for CA' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>

To edit an Opt-out link:

use FacebookAds\Object\CustomAudience;
use FacebookAds\Object\Fields\CustomAudienceFields;

$audience = new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>);
$audience->setData(array(
  CustomAudienceFields::OPT_OUT_LINK => 'http://www.yourdomain.com/optout',
));

$audience->update();

echo $audience->{CustomAudienceFields::OPT_OUT_LINK}.PHP_EOL;
from facebookads.adobjects.customaudience import CustomAudience

audience = CustomAudience('<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>')
audience[CustomAudience.Field.opt_out_link] = \
    'http://www.yourdomain.com/optout'
audience.remote_update()
new CustomAudience(<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>, context).update()
  .setOptOutLink("http://www.yourdomain.com/optout")
  .execute();
curl \
  -F 'opt_out_link=http://www.yourdomain.com/optout' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>

You can update a CustomAudience by making a POST request to /{custom_audience_id}.

Example

Graph API Explorer
POST /v10.0/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/ HTTP/1.1
Host: graph.facebook.com

name=Updated+Name+for+CA
/* PHP SDK v5.0.0 */
/* make the API call */
try {
  // Returns a `Facebook\FacebookResponse` object
  $response = $fb->post(
    '/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/',
    array (
      'name' => 'Updated Name for CA',
    ),
    '{access-token}'
  );
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookResponseException $e) {
  echo 'Graph returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookSDKException $e) {
  echo 'Facebook SDK returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
}
$graphNode = $response->getGraphNode();
/* handle the result */
/* make the API call */
FB.api(
    "/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/",
    "POST",
    {
        "name": "Updated Name for CA"
    },
    function (response) {
      if (response && !response.error) {
        /* handle the result */
      }
    }
);
Bundle params = new Bundle();
params.putString("name", "Updated Name for CA");
/* make the API call */
new GraphRequest(
    AccessToken.getCurrentAccessToken(),
    "/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/",
    params,
    HttpMethod.POST,
    new GraphRequest.Callback() {
        public void onCompleted(GraphResponse response) {
            /* handle the result */
        }
    }
).executeAsync();
NSDictionary *params = @{
  @"name": @"Updated Name for CA",
};
/* make the API call */
FBSDKGraphRequest *request = [[FBSDKGraphRequest alloc]
                               initWithGraphPath:@"/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/"
                                      parameters:params
                                      HTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request startWithCompletionHandler:^(FBSDKGraphRequestConnection *connection,
                                      id result,
                                      NSError *error) {
    // Handle the result
}];
curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="Updated Name for CA"' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v10.0/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/
If you want to learn how to use the Graph API, read our Using Graph API guide.

Parameters

ParameterDescription
allowed_domains
list<string>

A list of domains that the audience is restricted to

claim_objective
enum {AUTOMOTIVE_MODEL, COLLABORATIVE_ADS, HOME_LISTING, MEDIA_TITLE, PRODUCT, TRAVEL, VEHICLE, VEHICLE_OFFER}

Specifies the objective of audiences with subtype=CLAIM

content_type
enum {AUTOMOTIVE_MODEL, DESTINATION, FLIGHT, HOME_LISTING, HOTEL, LOCAL_SERVICE_BUSINESS, LOCATION_BASED_ITEM, MEDIA_TITLE, OFFLINE_PRODUCT, PRODUCT, VEHICLE, VEHICLE_OFFER}

Specifies a mandatory content type for claim_objective: TRAVEL, AUTO_OFFER, HOME_LISTING, VEHICLE.

customer_file_source
enum {USER_PROVIDED_ONLY, PARTNER_PROVIDED_ONLY, BOTH_USER_AND_PARTNER_PROVIDED}

Source of customer information in the uploaded file

description
string

The description for this custom audience

enable_fetch_or_create
boolean

Fetch custom audience instead of create new one when there exists custom audience with identical name, claim_objective, content_type, event_source_group/event_sources/sliced_event_source_group, inclusions, exclusions and rule

event_source_group
numeric string or integer

Specifies a mandatory content type for claim_objective: TRAVEL, AUTO_OFFER, HOME_LISTING, VEHICLE.

event_sources
array<JSON object>

Specifies a mandatory content type for claim_objective: TRAVEL, AUTO_OFFER, HOME_LISTING, VEHICLE.

id
int64

id

Required
type
enum {APP, OFFLINE_EVENTS, PAGE, PIXEL}

type

Required
lookalike_spec
JSON-encoded string

The specification for creating a lookalike audience

name
string

The name of this custom audience

opt_out_link
string

Your opt-out URL so people can choose not to be targeted

product_set_id
numeric string or integer

The Product Set to target with this audience

retention_days
int64

Number of days to keep the user in this cluster. You can use any value between 1 and 180 days. Defaults to forever, if not specified. Only available for Customer File Custom Audience, including Custom Audiences created from CRM data.

rule
string

Audience rule to be applied on the referrer URL. Used for website custom audiences, product audiences, and video remarketing audiences.

rule_aggregation
string

Aggregation rule

Return Type

This endpoint supports read-after-write and will read the node to which you POSTed.
Struct {
success: bool,
message: string,
}

Error Codes

ErrorDescription
2650Failed to update the custom audience
200Permissions error
100Invalid parameter
80003There have been too many calls to this ad-account. Wait a bit and try again. For more info, please refer to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/overview/rate-limiting.

Deleting

When you delete a Custom Audience, it'll be permanently removed from your account and your ads using it will stop running. You won't be able to restart any ads that used this audience in the past.

You can delete a CustomAudience by making a DELETE request to /{custom_audience_id}.

Example

Graph API Explorer
DELETE /v10.0/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/ HTTP/1.1
Host: graph.facebook.com
/* PHP SDK v5.0.0 */
/* make the API call */
try {
  // Returns a `Facebook\FacebookResponse` object
  $response = $fb->delete(
    '/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/',
    array (),
    '{access-token}'
  );
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookResponseException $e) {
  echo 'Graph returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
} catch(Facebook\Exceptions\FacebookSDKException $e) {
  echo 'Facebook SDK returned an error: ' . $e->getMessage();
  exit;
}
$graphNode = $response->getGraphNode();
/* handle the result */
/* make the API call */
FB.api(
    "/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/",
    "DELETE",
    function (response) {
      if (response && !response.error) {
        /* handle the result */
      }
    }
);
/* make the API call */
new GraphRequest(
    AccessToken.getCurrentAccessToken(),
    "/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/",
    null,
    HttpMethod.DELETE,
    new GraphRequest.Callback() {
        public void onCompleted(GraphResponse response) {
            /* handle the result */
        }
    }
).executeAsync();
/* make the API call */
FBSDKGraphRequest *request = [[FBSDKGraphRequest alloc]
                               initWithGraphPath:@"/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/"
                                      parameters:params
                                      HTTPMethod:@"DELETE"];
[request startWithCompletionHandler:^(FBSDKGraphRequestConnection *connection,
                                      id result,
                                      NSError *error) {
    // Handle the result
}];
curl -X DELETE -G \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v10.0/<CUSTOM_AUDIENCE_ID>/
If you want to learn how to use the Graph API, read our Using Graph API guide.

Parameters

This endpoint doesn't have any parameters.

Return Type

Struct {
success: bool,
}

Error Codes

ErrorDescription
200Permissions error
2656Failed to delete custom audience because associated lookalikes exist
100Invalid parameter
80003There have been too many calls to this ad-account. Wait a bit and try again. For more info, please refer to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/overview/rate-limiting.
2651Failed to create lookalike custom audience