Facebook has announced Facebook Home, a “homescreen replacement” that will take over the homescreen of Android’s operating system and provide status updates and notifications from users’ Facebook feeds.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was mum on how advertisers will be incorporated into the new product during the launch on Thursday, saying only “I’m sure at some point there will be” ads on Facebook Home. By taking over the central element of the Android operating system, the social network could potentially sell ad space on the homescreen – a coveted piece of real estate.
If Facebook does start selling mobile homescreen ads, it could be a huge revenue driver for the company. It would also be a savvy creation of mobile ad space that is not currently being used by the Android operating system. By comparison, the latest Windows operating system, Windows 8, sells ad space within apps running on the start screen on both the PC and tablet through Microsoft’s advertising group, though neither iOS nor Android operating systems currently have ad space on their homescreens.
Because Facebook Home takes over the homescreen – which is the first thing users see when they boot up their phones – selling ads on it would be a way of creating valuable inventory on what’s essentially space it’s renting (for free) from the operating system.
To put it into a crude real world metaphor, it would be like an apartment landlord putting up poster advertisements in a renter’s bedroom.
