Facebook Readying Autoplay Video Ads

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Facebook is planning to introduce a new video ad unit next year that would run in the newsfeed, according to reports Tuesday.

By April, the company will begin offering autoplay video ads in both the desktop version of the social network as well as in Facebook phone and tablet apps, according to an Ad Age report, citing industry executives briefed by Facebook. A subsequent post by the blog Inside Facebook confirmed that story, citing a source with knowledge of Facebook’s plans.

Facebook declined to comment on the reports Tuesday.

A new video ad offering in the newsfeed could prove attractive to marketers that have long clamored for more rich media and high-impact ad formats on Facebook. Inside Facebook noted that advertisers can already pay to promote videos in the news feed and sidebar by creating page post ads and certain kinds of sponsored stories.

But the autoplay feature could trigger a backlash from users still growing accustomed to text ads in their feeds, a blow for native advertising. Ad Age reports that Facebook is still debating features of the unit, including whether sound would be enabled automatically and the ads would have a 15-second cap.

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1 comment on "Facebook Readying Autoplay Video Ads".

1. Kevin Lee from Didit
   

   commented on: December 19, 2012 at 4:59 p.m.
   This is something that brand advertisers in particular could get excited about. However it becomes exciting even to DR advertisers when combined with several other targeting options: 1) ‘Custom Audience’ targeting (via anonomized PII) 2) external FBX inventory where advertisers can "BYOT" Bring your own targeting. 3) in a sponsored stories environment.

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