Placement Targeting

Updated: May 21, 2026

Deliver ads on specific placements, such as desktop Feed only or mobile Feed plus Audience Network Rewarded Video. You can only use certain placement options depending on your campaign objective. See Campaign, Objective, and Placements for more information.

The platforms and positions available are device_platforms, publisher_platforms, facebook_positions, audience_network_positions, instagram_positions, threads_positions, and messenger_positions. See the Device, Publisher, and Positions section for more information.

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My AdSet"' \
  -F 'optimization_goal="REACH"' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'targeting={
       "geo_locations": {
         "countries": [
           "US"
         ]
       },
       "publisher_platforms": [
         "facebook"
       ],
       "facebook_positions": [
         "feed"
       ]
     }' \
  -F 'promoted_object={
       "page_id": "<PAGE_ID>"
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

If you do not specify anything for a particular placement field, Facebook considers all possible default positions for that field. For example, if you set publisher_platforms to facebook, but select nothing for facebook_positions, Facebook considers all default Facebook positions such as feed, right_hand_column, and so on. Or, if you do not select any publisher_platforms, Facebook considers all defaultpublisher_platforms. Facebook may also automatically consider new positions or platforms as they become available.

On Audience Network, you can limit which publishers display your ads. Exclude publishers by category, or create a custom list of app store URLs or domain URLs to exclude.

You cannot use only right_hand_column alone as a placement for video, collection, or canvas ads.

Inventory Filter helps you control whether your ads display next to different types of content for in-content ads (Facebook in-stream videos, ads on Facebook Reels and ads on Instagram Reels), Audience Network ads and feed ads (Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Facebook Reels Feed and Instagram Reels Feed). To learn more about these content categories, see Ads Help Center, Inventory Filter⁠. You can choose separate values for in-content, Audience Network, and feed ads. Options include: Expanded, Moderate, and Limited. For details, see brand_safety_content_filter_levels below:

Name	Description
`brand_safety_content_filter_levels` array<string>	For in-content ads (Facebook in-stream and ads on Facebook Reels), Meta allows these values: `EXPANDED`: `FACEBOOK_RELAXED` `MODERATE`: `FACEBOOK_STANDARD` `LIMITED`: `FACEBOOK_STRICT` For Audience Network, Meta allows these values: `EXPANDED`: `AN_RELAXED` `MODERATE`: `AN_STANDARD` `LIMITED`: `AN_STRICT` For Feed ads (Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, Facebook Reels Feed and Instagram Reels Feed), Meta allows these values: `EXPANDED`: `FEED_RELAXED` `MODERATE`: `FEED_STANDARD` `LIMITED`: `FEED_STRICT` Example: `"brand_safety_content_filter_levels":["FACEBOOK_STRICT", "AN_RELAXED"]` Note: When a filter is applied at the ad account level, only more restrictive options will be available at the campaign level. For example, if the account is set to `MODERATE`, the user will only be able to select `MODERATE` or `LIMITED` for a campaign. Less restrictive options (in this example, `EXPANDED`) will not be available.
`excluded_publisher_categories` array<string>	Includes: `dating` and `gambling`
`excluded_publisher_list_ids` array<numeric strings>	Each string is a list ID for exclusions. Create custom lists in Ads Manager⁠ or Marketing API, Publisher Block List. Example: `"excluded_publisher_list_ids":["{block_list_id_1}","{block_list_id_2}"]`

For example, to use brand_safety_content_filter_levels:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=CAMPAIGN_ID' \
  -F 'targeting= { "geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]}, "brand_safety_content_filter_levels":["FACEBOOK_STRICT","AN_STANDARD"]}' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/VERSION/AD_ACCOUNT_ID/adsets

For Audience Network and In-Stream video you can also exclude publishers by category:

Name	Description
`excluded_publisher_categories` array<string>	Includes: `debated_social_issues` `mature_audiences` `tragedy_and_conflict` Example: `"excluded_publisher_categories": ["debated_social_issues", "mature_audiences"]`

Device, publisher, and positions

Name: Options	Description
`device_platforms`: `mobile`, `desktop`	Optional. Default: All The device types someone has who sees your ad.
`publisher_platforms`: `facebook`, `instagram`, `threads`, `messenger`, `audience_network`	Optional. Default: All The publishing channel for your ad. You can set the publishing channel position by setting them within `facebook_positions`, `instagram_positions`, `threads_positions`, `audience_network_positions`, or `messenger_positions`. Notes: If provided, `publisher_platforms` must include `facebook`, or do not provide it to default to all positions. To deliver ads to Threads, include both `instagram` and `threads` under `publisher_platforms` in your ad set.
`facebook_positions`: `feed`, `right_hand_column`, `marketplace`, `video_feeds`, `story`, `search`, `instream_video`, `facebook_reels`, `facebook_reels_overlay`, `profile_feed`, `notification`	Optional. Default: All Notes: If provided, `publisher_platforms` must include `facebook` or do not provide to default to all. `feed` includes Feed for Desktop, Mobile, and the Friends Tab on Mobile. For campaigns targeting the United States (US), United Kingdom (GB), France (FR), Spain (ES), Germany (DE), Mexico (MX), India (IN) and Thailand (TH), you can use `instream_video` without `feed` for the `VIDEO_VIEWS` and `POST_ENGAGEMENT` objectives. `instream_video` is not supported for the `CONVERSIONS` objective. If you select `story`, you must use Facebook `feed` or Instagram `story` and `device_platforms: mobile` because Facebook Stories is mobile-only. If you select `marketplace`, `search`, `profile_feed`, or `notification`, you must use `feed`. As of v3.0, `right_hand_column` is only available for single image, single video, and carousel formats for the `TRAFFIC`, `CONVERSIONS`, and `PRODUCT_CATALOG_SALES` objectives.
`instagram_positions`: `stream`, `story`, `explore`, `explore_home`, `reels`, `profile_feed`, `ig_search`, `profile_reels`	Optional. Default: All You can target Instagram carousel ads for Instagram `stream`, `story` or `ig_search`. If you are using unprompted carousel creative in stories, you cannot select both options for the same ad set. Ads using `story` will be displayed in both the Instagram Desktop and Mobile web feeds.
`threads_positions`: `threads_stream`	Optional. To use the Threads `threads_stream` placement, you must select the Instagram `stream` placement as well.
`audience_network_positions`: `classic`, `rewarded_video`	Optional. Default: All By default, the API does not return `effective_audience_network_positions` when you read the targeting spec for an ad set. This may differ from your configured `audience_network_positions`. If you specify a position that is not supported for a given objective, it appears in the list of configured positions, but not in the list of effective positions.
`messenger_positions`: `sponsored_messages`, `story`	Optional. Default: `story` Notes: If you select `story`, you must use Facebook `feed` or Instagram `story` and `device_platforms: mobile` because Messenger Stories is mobile-only. You can use `story` for single image and video formats in ad campaigns with the `CONVERSIONS`, `TRAFFIC`, `REACH`, `BRAND_AWARENESS`, and `APP_INSTALLS` objectives for ads driving traffic to websites and apps. You cannot use `sponsored_messages` with the other placements, including Facebook placements.
`whatsapp_positions`: `status`	Optional. Notes: To use the WhatsApp Status placement, you must select the Instagram story placement as well. To use the WhatsApp Status placement, you must configure your settings for Ads that Click to WhatsApp.

Logic

The logic for options in the same parameter is OR.
For example, publisher_platforms=['facebook','instagram'] means deliver ads on Facebook and Instagram.

The logic between parameters is AND.
For example, publisher_platforms=['facebook']&device_platforms=['mobile'] means deliver these ads to Facebook Mobile only.

If the logic results in targeting no one, such as publisher_platforms=['instagram']& device_platforms=['desktop'], you will see an error.

Limitations

You cannot use Audience Network alone, so publisher_platforms: audience_network cannot be selected by itself.

The audience_network placement with the VIDEO_VIEWS objective must be used with the THRUPLAYS optimization goal.

You cannot select story for facebook_positions by itself. If you select story for facebook_positions, you must also select Facebook feed or Instagram story.

You cannot select story for messenger_positions by itself. If you select story for messenger_positions, you must also select either Facebook feed or Instagram story.

You cannot select notification for facebook_positions by itself. If you select notification for facebook_positions, you must also select Facebook feed.

Instagram Web Feeds ads use the stream placement and are checked for web eligibility to be delivered to both desktop and mobile web feeds. The compatible objectives are BRAND_AWARENESS, REACH, LINK_CLICKS, POST_ENGAGEMENT, VIDEO_VIEWS, and CONVERSIONS.

You cannot select threads_stream for threads_positions by itself. If you select threads_stream for threads_positions, you must also select Instagram stream.

You cannot select status for whatsapp_positions by itself. If you select status for whatsapp_positions, you must also select Instagram story.

Limited spend on excluded placements

If you use placement controls to exclude certain placements for your ad sets, you can allow up to 5% of your spend to be allocated to each excluded placement when it’s likely to improve performance.

Opt-out with limited spend

To opt out of a placement with limited spend, pass the desired placement positions with the placement_soft_opt_out field when creating or updating an ad set.

The available positions are facebook_positions, audience_network_positions, instagram_positions, threads_positions, and messenger_positions.

Example request

"placement_soft_opt_out": {
  "facebook_positions": [
    "marketplace",
    "profile_feed"
  ],
  "audience_network_positions": [
    "classic",
    "rewarded_video"
  ]
}

Retrieve limited spend settings

To see which placements have limited spend set, query an ad set’s placement_soft_opt_out field.

Example request

curl -G \
  -d "access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>" \
"https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/<AD_SET_ID>?fields=placement_soft_opt_out"

Examples

Stories

To use Facebook Stories as your placement:

curl \
  -F 'name=My Ad Set'
  -F 'optimization_goal=CONVERSIONS'
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS'
  -F 'bid_amount=2'
  -F 'daily_budget=1000'
  -F 'campaign_id=<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>'
  -F 'targeting={"geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]}, "publisher_platforms":["messenger", "facebook"], "facebook_positions":["story"], "messenger_positions":["story"]}'
  -F 'status=ACTIVE'
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>'
  https://graph.facebook.com/API_VERSION/act_AD_ACCOUNT_ID/adsets

In-stream Video

To create an ad set with only instream_video placement that targets a supported country listed above:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=CAMPAIGN_ID' \
  -F 'targeting={"geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]},"publisher_platforms":["facebook"], "facebook_positions":["instream_video"]}' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/API_VERSION/act_AD_ACCOUNT_ID/adsets

Audience Network

To target the Audience Network Rewarded Video placement:

curl \
  -F 'name=My Ad Set' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'is_autobid=true' \
  -F 'daily_budget=40000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={"app_install_state": "not_installed","geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]},"facebook_positions":["feed"],"device_platforms": ["mobile"],"audience_network_positions": ["classic","rewarded_video"],"user_device": ["Android_Smartphone","Android_Tablet"],"user_os": ["Android_ver_4.4_and_above"]}' \
  -F 'promoted_object={"application_id": "<APPLICATION_ID>","custom_event_type": "PURCHASE","object_store_url": "<OBJECT_STORE_URL>"}' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<APIVERSION>/<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

This returns:

{
  "targeting": {
    "audience_network_positions": [
      "classic",
      "rewarded_video"
    ],
    "effective_audience_network_positions": [
      "classic",
      "rewarded_video"
    ]
  },
  "id": "<AD_SET_ID>"
}

Reels

To use Facebook Reels as your placement:

curl \
  -F 'name=My AdSet' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=REACH' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=CAMPAIGN_ID' \
  -F 'targeting={"geo_locations":{"countries":["US"]},"publisher_platforms":["facebook"], "facebook_positions":["facebook_reels"]}' \
  -F 'status=ACTIVE' \
  -F 'access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/API_VERSION/act_AD_ACCOUNT_ID/adsets

Instagram Explore home

To create an ad set with the explore_home placement that targets a supported country (e.g., “US”):

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My AdSet"' \
  -F 'optimization_goal="LINK_CLICKS"' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'targeting={
       "geo_locations": {
         "countries": [
           "US"
         ]
       },
       "publisher_platforms": [
         "instagram"
       ],
       "instagram_positions": [
         "stream",
         "explore",
         "explore_home"
       ],
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Instagram search results

To create an ad set with the ig_search placement that targets a supported country (e.g., “US”):

curl -X POST \
  -F 'name="My AdSet"' \
  -F 'optimization_goal="LINK_CLICKS"' \
  -F 'billing_event="IMPRESSIONS"' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id="<AD_CAMPAIGN_ID>"' \
  -F 'targeting={
       "geo_locations": {
         "countries": [
           "US"
         ]
       },
       "publisher_platforms": [
         "instagram"
       ],
       "instagram_positions": [
         "stream",
         "ig_search"
       ],
     }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
  https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Threads stream placement

curl \
  -F 'name=Threads Adset' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=LINK_CLICKS' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US"]},
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "threads"],
    "instagram_positions": ["stream"],
    "threads_positions": ["threads_stream"],
    "user_os": ["iOS"]
  }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

WhatsApp status placement

curl \
  -F 'name=Threads Adset' \
  -F 'optimization_goal=LINK_CLICKS' \
  -F 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
  -F 'bid_amount=2' \
  -F 'daily_budget=1000' \
  -F 'campaign_id=<CAMPAIGN_ID>' \
  -F  'promoted_object =
       {
        "page_id":<PAGE_ID>,
        "whatsapp_phone_number": <PHONE_NUMBER>
       }' \
  -F 'targeting={
    "geo_locations": {"countries":["US"]},
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "whatsapp"],
    "instagram_positions": ["story"],
    "whatsapp_positions": ["status"],
    "user_age_unknown": false
    }' \
  -F 'access_token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adsets

Effective placement with targeting

You create ad sets with placements in the targeting spec, however you do not always know if Facebook delivered your ad to the placements specified. This is because your selected placement may not apply to your chosen advertising objective. With the effective placements API for targeting, you can determine which placements your ad will deliver to, given your targeting options, and receive validation messages to understand why some placements are filtered out. If you do not provide targeting, you can still determine the effective placement based on ad set and ad campaign settings.

To read an effective placement based on your targeting, put effective_ in front of the placement field name. For example:

curl -G \
  -d "fields=targeting{effective_publisher_platforms,effective_facebook_positions,effective_device_platforms,effective_audience_network_positions,effective_instagram_positions}" \
  -d "access_token=<access_token>" \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<VERSION>/<AD_SET_ID>

To see why some placements got filtered out use the recommendation field:

curl -G \
  -d "fields=recommendations" \
  -d "access_token=<access_token>" \
  https://graph.facebook.com/<VERSION>/23842573364570019

With the effective placements, you can determine which placements your ad will deliver to based on your ad set’s billing_event, optimization_goal and promoted_object as well as your ad campaign’s buying_type and objective. All parameters for /ad_campaign_placement include:

Ad account_id and access token

billing_event, such as IMPRESSIONS

Buying Type, such as AUCTION

Objective, such as POST_ENGAGEMENT

Optimization Goal, which is optional, such as POST_ENGAGEMENT

Promoted Object, such as PIXEL_ID

All parameters except for promoted_object and optimization_goal are required. If you do provide targeting, you can use Marketing API to determine the effective placement based on the ones permitted for your settings, see Effective Placement with Targeting. For example:

curl -G \
-d 'account_id=<ACCOUNT_ID>' \
-d 'billing_event=IMPRESSIONS' \
-d 'buying_type=AUCTION' \
-d 'objective=PAGE_LIKES' \
-d 'optimization_goal=IMPRESSIONS' \
https://graph.facebook.com/<VERSION>/ad_campaign_placement?access_token=<TOKEN>

The call returns:

{
   "effective_device_platforms": [
      "mobile",
      "desktop"
   ],
   "effective_facebook_positions": [
      "feed",
      "right_hand_column"
   ],
   "effective_publisher_platforms": [
      "facebook"
   ],
   "recommendations": [
      {
         "title": "Placement Not Supported By Objective",
         "message": "Ads with PAGE_LIKES objective do not support facebook.instream_video, facebook.suggested_video, facebook.marketplace, audience_network.classic, audience_network.instream_video, audience_network.rewarded_video, instagram.stream, instagram.story",
         "code": 1815609,
         "importance": "LOW",
         "confidence": "HIGH",
         "blame_field": "targeting"
      },
      {
         "title": "Device Platform Not Supported By Objective",
         "message": "Ads with PAGE_LIKES objective do not support connected_tv.",
         "code": 1815610,
         "importance": "LOW",
         "confidence": "HIGH",
         "blame_field": "targeting"
      }
   ],
   }
}

You can use the code field from this result in a call to /ad-recommendation to see a detailed reason. For example, you can get this information:

[{"code": 1815610, "summary": "Device Platform Not Supported By Objective"},]

For more information, see Ad Recommendation Reference and Effective Placement with Targeting.