Facebook to Test Mid-Roll Video Ads

By Steven Perlberg

Facebook will begin testing "mid-roll" ads in videos on its platform, a move aimed to help media companies and the social network generate revenue from their growing video audiences, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company has been testing the ads that run in the middle of videos for its live-streaming product, Facebook Live, but the new effort would extend that program into regular videos.

Facebook declined to comment.

Recode earlier reported the mid-roll ad test in Facebook videos, which only allows ads to appear once a viewer has watched a clip for 20 seconds in videos that run for at least 90 seconds, according to the report. Facebook is offering publishers 55% of the ad revenue, similar to YouTube, according to Recode. Ads in videos will also be limited to 15 seconds in length, Marketing Land reported.

While publishers have devoted more resources to producing videos for Facebook, the long-term business model has been largely unclear, particularly because the company has vowed to avoid YouTube-style pre-roll video ads. A prior program from Facebook called Suggested Videos -- which offered a scrollable collection of videos with ads interspersed -- largely fell flat with media companies.

Meanwhile, publishers have been making money by posting "branded" videos on behalf of marketers, which Facebook permits if the publisher marks those videos as such.

Mike Shields and Deepa Seetharaman contributed to this article.

Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 09, 2017 16:32 ET (21:32 GMT)

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