• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, September 5, 2014

Facebook continues to rack up big deals with holding company ad shops. The latest, confirmed today, is a nine-figure ($100 million or more) deal with UM. 

The agreement spans two years, with a commitment from UM to double its spending on Facebook over that period. 

The companies said they will expand their relationship by collaborating at all levels to provide UM clients with early access to data, insights tools, premium ad opportunities (including video), custom collaboration on research and preferred pricing. 

UM client BMW will be the first luxury auto manufacturer to use Premium Video on Facebook in a campaign that launched today. Sony Pictures Entertainment has also signed up for Premium Video on Facebook. 

Other components of the deal include an integration of Facebook data into UM’s key analytics platforms. The companies are also partnering to better understand "storytelling through Facebook video." The firms said they would take a close look at the impact that video ad units have on Facebook. Methodologies being used include Millward Brown eye-tracking studies, and attitudinal measures.  

The companies also said they will experiment with sequential video ad units and the impact they have on the Facebook audience. 

Earlier this year, Publicis Groupe and Facebook signed a multi-year deal designed to focus on three key areas of interest: 1) data access and integration, 2) visual storytelling through Instagram and 3) online video. All three will combine to create what the companies say is a new “value-driving” product that includes integrated planning, insights and measurement tools.

Separately, Facebook and Omnicom announced an Instagram-specific initiative rumored to be worth up to $100 million. 

WPP plans to spend more on Facebook this year -- probably $650 million, versus the $480 million it spent last year -- according to WPP's CEO Martin Sorrell during his company's call with financial analysts.