• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 1, 2013

TV, meet your new nightly, prime time competitor: Facebook.

The social media giant wants to charge video advertisers up to a big-time $2.5 million for a 15-second spot, according to Bloomberg.  Facebook users would see the spot no more than three times a day.

That hefty price tag would be ten times the $250,000 or more that an advertiser typically pays for a big 30-second primetime spot on a major high-rated broadcast network show like NBC’s “The Voice,” CBS’ “NCIS,” Fox’s “American Idol” or ABC’s “Modern Family.”

In terms of raw numbers, each of those shows might pull in 15-20 million viewers for 30 minutes or one-hour’s worth of programming and other messaging content.

Facebook? Its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said during the company’s’ recent earnings call that: “Every night, 88 million to 100 million people are actively using Facebook during prime-time TV hours in the United States alone.” Facebook had  198 million active U.S. users in the second quarter 2013.

Facebook is sizing up the move as competition to TV. But admittedly video advertising on Facebook wouldn’t be anything like advertising on prime-time television. The Facebook commercials will initially be sold on a full-day basis and targeted to users based only on age and gender (which does sound like TV advertising).

Some full-day ads could be priced as low as $1 million, with the seemingly high price justified by some people based on so-called active Internet engagement versus passive TV viewing.

Now, you may ask, why is Facebook targeting only on age and gender when digital media sellers tell you that many more data points and consumer preferences can be included in their buys, leading to better ROI?

Because targeting only by age and gender makes it easier for media planning and buying executives to pull the trigger and shift money from -- where else -- the big coffers of their TV media budgets. Helping out Facebook in this vein is new data that goes to the heart of the TV media buying business: a report from Nielsen saying that Facebook attracts more 18 to 24-year-old consumers during prime-time viewing hours than any of the four major television networks.

Commercial breaks are no reason to take a break from anything --  especially if you are a young TV-watching adult.  A consumer can be posting or looking at a Facebook page while a commercial is running on  “Teen Mom,” “Walking Dead” or “Glee” -- that is, if they’re not doing their social media activity with one hand while fast-forwarding with the other.

That’s the growing, some would say “compelling,” multitasking activity that Facebook will now talk up -- and look to charge TV advertisers a couple of million of dollars to access.