Moving Goalposts: How Ad-Supported Platforms are Rewriting Your Targeting Playbook

A lot of marketers are still running their media the way they did five years ago. Same platforms, same targeting logic, same assumptions about who's in control of where their ads go. 

But the rules have quietly shifted under everyone's feet — and if you haven't noticed yet, you probably will soon.

Three big areas are changing fast: 

• Meta's approach to audience targeting
• The continued rise of ad-supported streaming, and
• How Spotify is opening up its listener data. 

Each one has real implications for your media spend. And together, they point to a strategy shift that isn't optional anymore.

Meta is no longer just doing what you tell it to

For years, Meta was the go-to for granular interest-based targeting. You wanted to reach 35-to-50-year-old hobby woodworkers in a specific postal code who also follow a particular YouTube channel? Done. The platform let you stack and narrow audiences with impressive precision.

That's changing.

Meta is moving away from detailed interest targeting, and toward letting its algorithm determine who your content is right for. Rather than you specifying the audience, Meta's AI increasingly observes how people engage with your creative and serves it to users with similar behavioural patterns. In other words, your ad's performance (and your audience) is being shaped more by the content itself than by the targeting parameters you set.

That's not necessarily bad news. But it does shift the burden. If Meta is going to decide who sees your message, your creative needs to do more of the heavy lifting, by “signalling”, or calling out your audience directly and giving the algorithm something to glean. A generic awareness ad won't cut it.

Case in point: When we’re running campaigns for our client at Lakehead University, ads that speak directly to specific personas (the Explorer, the Innovator, the Researcher) consistently outperform broad creative. The message in these ads calls out the audience, which signals to Meta's system exactly who to find more of. That's one way you can work with the algorithm, instead of fighting it.

And yes, interest-based targeting still exists on Meta. You can still layer in demographic filters and some high-level interests. But the direction is clear: it’s time to test and get comfortable with the AI algorithm. 

Right now, it’s an option. Time and trial will tell whether it becomes the standard. 

(FYI, if you’re a practitioner in this space looking for some hands-on practical advise, check out these three tips from AdExchanger).

Streaming platforms are a targeting opportunity marketers are underusing

Ad-supported streaming (think Spotify's free tier, or the lower-cost ad-supported plans now offered by Crave, Paramount+, and a growing list of other video platforms) isn't just another place to run pre-roll video. The behavioural data available through these platforms is meaningfully richer than what's left of cookie-based web targeting.

Why? Because streaming data is consented, persistent, and intent-signal-rich. When someone's listening habits on Spotify tell you they're a true crime devotee who also binges productivity podcasts and streams jazz while cooking, you're working with real behavioural patterns — a level of signal depth that's harder to achieve through cookie-based targeting alone. 

Spotify in particular has expanded its ad offerings significantly. Podcast advertising has grown into a highly engaged, contextually targeted format. If your audience listens to a specific type of content, you can be right there in the middle of it: not as an interruptive banner, but as an embedded message in a context they've actively chosen.

The same logic applies across streaming video. Viewing patterns, genre preferences, completion rates: these behavioural signals can help you find audiences who are genuinely predisposed to your message. And because this data lives within the platforms rather than relying on browser tracking, it isn't eroding the way cookie-based targeting is.

Another option available through both audio and video streaming platforms is targeting by device type. The device a user is connecting on is a predictor of their behaviour, and your engagement levels. 

For example: someone streaming hands-free through a smart speaker isn’t in position to click on your ad, so a pure awareness message is likely more appropriate. Mobile streamers might have their device in hand, but are also more likely to be on-the-go than a desktop user. So again, you should tailor your call to action according to the likelihood someone is actually poised to take that action.

First-party data isn't a nice-to-have anymore

If there's a common thread running through all of these changes, it's this: the era of outsourcing your audience knowledge to platforms is ending. Meta is slowly removing the control that marketers have with targeting on the platform. Cookie-based targeting is getting squeezed from every direction.

And the platforms that have rich data (streaming services, Spotify, Meta) hold that data themselves. They'll let you use it, but on their terms.

The platforms hold the data. They'll let you use it, but on their terms.

Which means you need to own your audience data. Building and maintaining a first-party database isn't a future-proofing exercise anymore. It's table stakes.
For some of our clients, this has meant rethinking how they use social media campaigns entirely — not just to drive immediate conversions, but to grow owned audiences. 

Case in point: A pre-opening campaign for the Forge Bagel Co. used targeted Meta ads designed specifically to build a local following before the doors even opened. 

The creative called out Winnipeg bagel lovers directly, invited them into the story (taste testing, flavour feedback, behind-the-scenes), and turned that engagement into over 10,000 social followers before grand opening day. They sold out on opening day, and continued to sell out every day for four weeks straight.

What this means for your media planning

None of this is simple, or static. These platforms are evolving quickly, and keeping up requires direct relationships with media suppliers and a willingness to rethink tactics that used to work reliably. 

The work starts right at the brief. Your creative suite needs to include persona-based creative to ensure performance on Meta’s platform. Your media mix needs to consider the platform-specific advantages available through streaming. And — as more of the control over who you’re reaching gets dictated by the algorithm — growing and managing your owned channels ensures your most engaged audiences remain within your direct reach.

The playbook is being rewritten whether you're ready or not. The marketers who adapt by matching thoughtful creative to research-backed audiences (and by building the data infrastructure to support it) are the ones who'll come out ahead.

Want to talk through what this means for your specific plans? Let’s dig in. Get in touch with our team and to discuss your digital marketing strategy in more detail.