Facebook Stories Ads now available to all advertisers

Facebook has officially launched Stories Ads on the Facebook platform, making the ad units available to all advertisers globally. The company first brought ads into Instagram Stories in January 2017 and began testing Facebook Stories Ads in May. Earlier this month, Facebook alerted its Marketing Partner Network to the coming ad units, asking ad management platforms to set Stories Ads on Facebook as a default opt-in.

Why you should care

Stories Ads on Facebook offer new ad placement option for advertisers on the platform. As with Instagram Stories ads, these new ad units will include Facebook’s full ad targeting and measurement capabilities — and, soon, will be available in Messenger as well.

Though it’s early days, Facebook is betting on Stories Ads to be a major new revenue source.

The format is rolling out after brands such as iHeartRadio, Kettle Chips, Norwegian Airlines and KFC UK started testing them earlier this year.

“With the addition of advertising within Facebook Stories, we will be able to reach a larger and more diverse audience in a more creative way, allowing us to intertwine storytelling and advertising in the user’s own preferred channel of communication,” said Stine Steffensen Børke, Norwegian Airlines director of global marketing. “Not only is it cost-efficient, but has a significant global reach, and easily accessible for users through their own mobile device, with a clear call to action.”

KFC UK reported their Facebook Stories Ads campaigns delivered a 33 percent lower cost per view and a 19 percent lower cost per impression. The restaurant brand said the ad units allowed them to reach more people at a lower cost, without sacrificing quality or targeting control.

Two other brands to test the Facebook Stories Ads — Tentree, a clothing brand, and Skout, a dating app — reported more customer actions at a lower cost.

More on Facebook Stories Ads

• After launching Facebook Stories in March 2017, the company made Stories available to Pages in October 2017 in an effort to increase user numbers.
• In July, Facebook began testing a Stories “Highlights” feature that allows users to save Stories to their profiles beyond the usual 24-hour time period a Story remained available.
• An Ipsos survey commissioned by Facebook showed that 62 percent of people said they were more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a Story — with more than 50 percent saying they make more online purchases as a result of Stories.
• That same survey found 68 percent of people polled said they use Stories on at least three apps regularly, and 63 percent said they plan to use Stories more in the future.