Facebook is set to increase its monetisation options for brands creating content on the platform with the introduction of ad breaks for video. The tech giant is currently testing ad spots for live and uploaded clips as it looks to boost revenue and enable publishers to deliver more relevant ads to users across desktop and mobile.
Facebook said that it has already started testing the new ad initiative, which will see publishers earn a 55 per cent revenue share. They will soon have the option of inserting an ad break into a video at the time of their choosing, though it must autoplay after at least 20 seconds from the start and be spaced two minutes apart from any other break.
“Whether on Facebook or off, we’re committed to continuing to work with our partners to develop new monetisation products and ad formats for digital video,” Facebook’s VP of Partnerships, Nick Grudin, concluded in a statement. “It’s early days, but today’s updates are a step towards this goal.”
The new additions could fundamentally change how video content is created for Facebook, as brands may now build suspense during the opening section and hold back the better aspects of a clip until after the break to ensure that viewers keep watching. Currently, creators are more focused on including flashier moments early on to engage viewers scrolling through their news feeds.
As part of the announced updates, publishers will be able to leverage Facebook’s Audience Network functionality to optimise in-stream video ads and target specific audience segments. The ads, which will also be available for Live videos within the mobile app and uploaded videos, will deliver a better experience to end-users, according to Facebook VP of Product Solutions Brian Boland and Project Manager Maria Angelidou-Smith.
“Publishers have historically been wary of video ads delivered from networks or exchanges because they can load slowly and are often unreliable,” Boland and Angelidou-Smith said in a blog post. “With Audience Network, advertisers upload their ads and bids to Facebook in advance — allowing us to quickly run an auction and return an ad that’s a good experience for the person watching it.”
The updates could now make Facebook a much more attractive proposition for content creators who predominantly use YouTube, where they have been able to generate revenue for some time. The ad breaks are currently being tested with a few select partners and are expected to be rolled out further in the coming months.
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