Bring On The News Feed Commercials: Promoted Video Ads Officially Land In The Facebook Feed

Next time you check your News Feed you may notice some additional movement thanks to a new ad format.

As speculated, Facebook has officially announced the ad test that allows advertisers to purchase clips that will auto-play (without sound) directly in your feed. If you like what you see, you’ll have the option to click and view high quality videos with sound.

According to Facebook, new changes to the Feed have been fruitful for Video, with overall likes, shares and comments up over 10%, so offering this medium to advertisers only makes sense.

The first ad to be tested is for the film ‘Divergent’ and will begin rolling out to select users this week. Here is exactly how the video ads will work:

• If an ad is displayed to you, it will auto-play without sound, no tapping or clicking required.
• If you like the video and want more, simply click or tap. If you wouldn’t like to view the add all you have to do is scroll past it.
• Once clicked the video will display in full screen with sound, so be very careful, especially on mobile devices.
• One the video is finished, users will have the option to view two additional video from within the video carousel.

For mobile users, these videos will only show if they’ve been previously downloaded via wifi so that it won’t have an adverse outcome on data charges. It’s simple. No wifi? No video ads.
For more information watch the video above or see the official Facebook post.

About The Author

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides world-class social media and search marketing services and web & application development. He has been in the Internet marketing industry for 10+ years and specializes in Digital Marketing. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.