Audience targeting — countries, age, interests

Geo (countries/cities/regions/radius), demographics (age/gender), interests, custom audiences. DSA fields for EU.

Written By Salvatore Sinigaglia

Last updated About 4 hours ago

Geo (countries/cities/regions/radius), demographics (age/gender), interests, custom audiences. DSA fields for EU.

Audience targeting — countries, age, interests

Audience targeting in Wevion supports the basics every platform needs: geo (countries, cities with radius, regions), demographics (age, gender), interests (platform's taxonomy), and custom/lookalike audiences (see cc-110 + cc-111). For EU geo: DSA fields become required.

Who is this for

Mediabuyers configuring audience for any campaign. The audience determines who sees your ad — the most consequential targeting decision.

What Wevion's targeting covers

Verified apps/backend/src/dto/request/bulk-launch.request.dto.ts:

Geo

FieldTypeUse
target_countrySingle ISO codePrimary target country
target_countriesArray of codesMulti-country targeting
target_regionsArray with keySub-national regions (states, provinces)
target_citiesArray with key + radius (10-80km) + distance_unitCity + surrounding radius

Cities require radius 10-80km (verified DTO constraints).

Demographics

FieldRangeUse
min_age13-65 (platform-dependent)Minimum age
max_age13-65 or 65+Maximum age
genderAll / Male / FemaleGender filter

Some platforms restrict age (Meta minimum 13 for most). Special ad categories restrict further (housing/credit/employment cannot narrow by age/gender — see cc-120).

Interests

Pick from platform's interest taxonomy (drop-down with search). Add 1-5 interests for focused targeting. Too many interests = narrower audience.

Common categories:

  • Lifestyle (fitness, travel, food, fashion)
  • Industries (tech, finance, healthcare)
  • Behaviors (online shoppers, frequent travelers, mobile gamers)
  • Life events (recently engaged, new homeowner, new parent)

Languages

Some platforms allow language targeting (default: language of the country). Useful for multilingual markets (e.g. target English speakers in non-English countries).

In Wevion's launchers

Express

Audience step (3 of 6):

  • Country selector (single primary + add more)
  • Age range slider (default 18-65)
  • Gender selector (default All)
  • Interest tags (search + add 1-3)

Simple, focused, opinionated.

Pro

Per-adset audience configuration:

  • All Express fields
  • Plus: regions + cities + radius
  • Plus: custom audiences (lookalike + retargeting — see cc-110)
  • Plus: placement targeting
  • Plus: device targeting (mobile / desktop / tablet)
  • Plus: language

Bulk Launch

Grid columns per row:

  • target_country, target_countries, target_regions, target_cities
  • min_age, max_age, gender
  • (Interests typically set via template or per-platform field)

Audience size estimate

Wevion shows the estimated audience size as you configure (queries platform's estimate API). This is guidance from the ad platform's estimate — Wevion's pre-flight does not block on audience size (there is no AUDIENCE_TOO_NARROW code):

  • < 1.000: too narrow — likely low delivery on the platform
  • 1.000-10.000: very narrow — high CPM
  • 10.000-100.000: narrow, suitable for retargeting
  • 100.000-1.000.000: well-sized, good for testing
  • 1.000.000-10.000.000: broad
  • > 10.000.000: very broad, suitable for awareness

Sweet spot: 100K-1M for testing; expand for awareness or narrow for retargeting.

DSA fields for EU

When target_country is in EU (or any EU country in target_countries):

  • dsa_beneficiary becomes required (who benefits from the ad)
  • dsa_payor becomes required (who pays for it)

Verified DTO + validated by Wevion pre-flight. Without these: publish blocked.

See cc-120 EU compliance for full DSA context.

Special ad categories

If your ad is in a regulated category (US regulations), declare it:

SpecialAdCategory enum (verified):

  • CREDIT (loans, credit cards)
  • EMPLOYMENT (job offers)
  • HOUSING (real estate, rentals)
  • SOCIAL_ISSUES_ELECTIONS_OR_POLITICS (political ads)

Restrictions:

  • No narrow audience targeting (no age, gender, ZIP code targeting for housing)
  • Limited interest targeting
  • Authorized advertiser status required for politics (separate verification with Meta)

If you declare wrong category: ad rejected by platform, account may face penalties. Declare honestly.

Custom audiences

Beyond basic targeting, Wevion supports custom audiences created on the platform side:

  • Custom Audience (Meta) / Customer Match (Google) — upload customer list (emails hashed)
  • Website Custom Audience — pixel-based retargeting (see cc-111)
  • Engagement Audience — engaged with Page / IG / Video
  • Lookalike Audience — built from a source — see cc-110

These are created in the platform (Meta Business Manager, Google Audience Manager) and surfaced in Wevion's audience selector.

Targeting best practices

Start broader, narrow with performance

  • Don't over-narrow at launch (platform needs reach to optimize)
  • Let 50-100 conversions accumulate
  • Then narrow based on which sub-audiences performed

Don't over-stack interests

  • 1-3 interests sweet spot
  • 5+ interests = very narrow + high CPM
  • One precise interest usually beats five vague ones

Exclude existing customers

For acquisition campaigns: exclude existing customers (custom audience) to avoid wasting ad spend on people who already converted.

Test audiences side-by-side

For new audiences: use ABO (cc-107) to give each audience equal budget for fair test. After 50+ conversions per adset, decide which to scale.

Common mistakes

  • Country selector + cities mixed-up: pick countries OR specific cities, not both (city implies country)
  • Age range too narrow (e.g. 25-26): too few people, high CPM, slow learning
  • Too many interests at once: AND vs OR matters — platform may interpret too narrowly
  • Forgetting DSA fields for EU: blocks publish
  • Wrong special ad category: leads to ad rejection or account restrictions

What you'll see

In Express:

  • Audience size estimate updates as you change fields
  • Country dropdown with search
  • Age slider 13-65+
  • Interest search with suggestions
  • Validation feedback inline

In Pro:

  • Full per-adset audience config
  • Custom audience selector
  • Audience overlap warning if adsets compete for same users

Cross-platform notes

PlatformNotable targeting
MetaLargest interest taxonomy + custom audiences + Advantage+ auto-expansion
GoogleKeyword targeting (Search) + audience signals (PMax) + intent audiences
TikTokInterest categories + behavior signals + "Smart Audience" auto-expansion
TaboolaGeo + content category (where ad runs) + custom segments
SnapchatDemographic-heavy targeting (Gen Z focused) + interest categories

Wevion abstracts common fields but per-platform specifics surface in Pro mode.

FAQ

What audience targeting does Wevion support?

Wevion's audience targeting covers the basics every platform needs: geo (countries, cities with a 10-80km radius, regions), demographics (age and gender), interests from the platform's taxonomy, and custom or lookalike audiences created platform-side. Express offers a focused subset, while Pro mode adds regions, cities, placements, device, and language per ad set.

What audience size should I aim for?

Wevion shows an estimated audience size as you configure, querying the platform's estimate API. Under 1,000 is likely too narrow to deliver well (Wevion does not block on audience size — there is no AUDIENCE_TOO_NARROW error); 10,000-100,000 suits retargeting; and over 10 million suits awareness. The sweet spot is roughly 100K-1M for testing — expand it for awareness campaigns or narrow it for retargeting.

When are DSA fields required for audience targeting?

Wevion requires the DSA fields whenever target_country is in the EU, or any EU country appears in target_countries. Both dsa_beneficiary (who benefits from the ad) and dsa_payor (who pays for it) become mandatory and are validated pre-flight — without them, the publish is blocked. See cc-120 EU compliance for full DSA context.

How many interests should I add?

Keep it to one to three interests. In Wevion, that's the sweet spot for focused targeting; five or more narrows the audience too much and raises CPM, and one precise interest usually beats five vague ones. Be aware that how the platform interprets AND versus OR between interests also affects how narrow the audience becomes.

What are special ad categories and their restrictions?

Special ad categories are regulated ad types you must declare: CREDIT, EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING, and SOCIAL_ISSUES_ELECTIONS_OR_POLITICS. In Wevion, declaring one restricts narrow targeting — no age, gender, or ZIP targeting for housing, limited interests, and authorized-advertiser status for politics. Declare honestly; a wrong category leads to ad rejection or account penalties.