Audience Targeting
The process of defining which users will see an ad based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and other criteria.
What Audience Targeting means
Audience targeting is the mechanism by which advertisers define who should see their ads, using criteria such as demographics, interests, behaviors, custom audiences, and lookalike audiences. Targeting has become one of the most compliance-sensitive areas of digital advertising. Anti-discrimination regulations prohibit targeting based on protected characteristics for housing, employment, and credit ads (enforced through Special Ad Categories on Meta). Privacy regulations like GDPR require legal basis for behavioral targeting. Platforms have progressively removed sensitive targeting options — Meta removed thousands of detailed targeting categories in 2022, and Google restricts targeting based on health, religion, and political affiliation. Compliance requires understanding both platform-specific and jurisdiction-specific targeting restrictions.
Related terms
Special Ad Categories
Platform-designated ad categories (housing, employment, credit, politics) with restricted targeting to prevent discrimination.
Custom Audience
An audience segment created from an advertiser's own customer data (email lists, website visitors, app users) for targeted advertising.
Lookalike Audience
A targeting audience created by platforms that matches characteristics of an advertiser's existing customers to find similar potential customers.
Retargeting
The practice of showing ads to users based on their previous interactions with a brand's digital properties.