• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 17, 2013

On the eve of the upfront market, Facebook is trying to gain ground on TV networks with a video ad opportunity. Marketers can buy a $1 million-a-day summer video sponsorship on Facebook, with 15-second video ads to be seen by users no more than three times a day, according to an Ad Age report.

In comparison, the broadcast networks get $100,000 on average for a 30-second prime-time commercial during the regular season. There are generally 13 minutes of national time per prime-time hour, depending on the network. For CBS, ABC, and NBC, this comes to roughly $2.6 million an hour, or $8 million for all of prime time. Broadcast network viewing numbers -- and advertising rates -- are generally lower in the summer time period.

Facebook's intention is to grab some of these TV-targeted advertising dollars -- or at least have marketers hesitate just a bit when making their bigger long-time video plans during the upfront selling period that starts in late May.

For Facebook, this is somewhat akin to a much bigger website page-takeover -- or a traditional TV roadblock. A typical Yahoo website front page takeover could cost some $300,000 to $400,000, for example.

T comes in the summer, where marketers may be less apt to plunk down a hefty pricetag for one-day's worth of video media. According to Ad Age, Facebook looks to sell four different targeted opportunities – for women under 30; women over 30; men under 30; and men over 30. But it is not known how many impressions Facebook is estimating or guaranteeing.

Facebook, of course, has massive scale in the U.S., with some 170 million users. It doesn't yet have premium video pre-roll opportunities to sell -- but does have lots of social media content. Will that be enough to shift marketers’ minds when they think about long-term plans in the $20 billion upfront TV market?