Facebook Courts Marketers With In-Stream Video Ads
August 17 2017 - 11:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Jack Marshall
As Facebook ramps up its video ambitions, get ready for more
commercial breaks.
Beginning Thursday, the company said it would give marketers the
ability to run video ads specifically as "in-stream" placements,
meaning they will appear as ad breaks in the middle of publishers'
videos. Up until now, advertisers had only been able to run video
ads on Facebook as stand-alone posts in users' feeds, aside from a
limited test of in-stream video ads.
Advertisers also will be given the option to specify whether
they would like their in-stream ads to appear on Facebook itself,
or across the range of websites and apps in Facebook's Audience
Network ad network product. They can also choose both.
The move is a timely one given Facebook's recent efforts to
attract long-form original programming to its platform, as opposed
to the short, shareable videos that users already consume
fleetingly in their news feeds. Earlier this month, the company
announced the launch of a new platform called "Watch," where it
plans to surface original video series from a wide range of
publishers and content creators.
Facebook has already been testing in-stream ads in videos over
90 seconds long for a number of months, but the addition of Watch
content could create a host of new ad space for video advertisers
to fill, provided the new shows succeed in attracting viewers and
holding their attention.
The ability to specifically purchase video ads that are more
akin to commercial breaks sets up Facebook's original programming
as more of a competitor to YouTube, Hulu and even linear television
for brands' advertising dollars.
Facebook has said that its goal is to create an ecosystem with
Watch where creators of the original shows can be entirely
supported by revenue from ad breaks in the middle of their
videos.
Facebook's publishing partners say the shows they are working on
range from episodes two minutes in length all the way up to one
hour, and the company has also announced deals to air multi-hour
sporting events such as Major League Baseball and Major League
Soccer matches. Facebook hasn't specified how much advertising time
can be carried during publishers' videos.
"There's a spectrum of ways people are watching video on
Facebook. There are shorter, on-the-go experiences and longer,
lean-back experiences," said Kate Orseth, a product marketing
manager at Facebook. "We're building ad products to match those
experiences and behaviors."
Advertisers won't currently be given the opportunity to purchase
ad space in Watch shows specifically, Ms. Orseth added.
The addition of in-stream-only ad options might help attract ad
dollars from marketers who have been reluctant to buy video ads in
the news feed over concerns about the amount of time people
actually view their ads.
"This is something advertisers asked us for," Ms. Orseth
said.
So far, more than 70% of in-stream video ads up to 15 seconds in
length were watched to completion, Facebook said. That includes the
Audience Network, where in-stream video ads have been available
since last year.
In terms of billing and reporting, advertisers will be given the
same options for in-stream video as they have in the news feed,
Facebook said. For example, advertisers can opt to pay only when
their ads are viewed for at least 10 seconds, if they wish, albeit
for a higher price.
Write to Jack Marshall at Jack.Marshall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2017 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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