Facebook has unveiled the first way video publishers can earn ad revenue from the social network, the latest in Facebook s many efforts to dethrone YouTube in video ads.
Ads will now play in between videos that show up under the new suggested videos feature, in which users who finish a video are presented with a sequence of related videos. Facebook has been testing this with ads from Fox News, NBA, Funny or Die, Tastemade, Hearst, and a few dozen more on the official iPhone app, and ads will be rolled out on Android and the Web in coming months.
Facebook is not letting content owners buy video ads outright just yet, as the current partners already have bought news feed ads, and the video ads are currently a bonus, according to Dan Rose, Facebook s VP of partnerships.
We ve heard consistently from media companies and other video creators that if they were able to make money from their videos, they would publish more, said Rose, according to Variety. We hear they get a lot of value from the distribution and promotion of their videos on Facebook… and we think this product will amplify that.
Facebook will split revenue with its partners 45/55 percent, the same split YouTube has with its partners. Facebook claims it averages 4 billion video views per day; a recent study by Ampere Analysis shows that Facebook had 315 billion video views in Q1 of 2015 compared with YouTube s 756 billion views in the same time frame. Reuters reports that YouTube is more flexible and attractive to advertisers, only charging advertisers once the ad has been viewed and giving advertisers more options as to how their ads are presented, with ads either before, during, or after the content. But Rose it wouldn t make sense for Facebook to get into pre-roll video ads anyway.
When video is autoplaying, it s very hard to put an ad in front of the content because someone isn t sure what they re going to see after the pre-roll, Rose said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, advertisers are liking Facebook s model instead, as ads can be presented alongside the content they put out already instead of out of context in the news feed. Facebook has also announced new options for advertisers, who can choose to be charged once a video is immediately viewed or only after 10 seconds have been viewed.A new video tracking page also allows advertisers to track views, reach, average completion and other metrics for their videos. Facebook is also tweaking the algorithm that makes it so more videos appear on a user s news feed.
We love how Facebook is thinking about how you provide a richer video experience… and create unique, valuable opportunities for advertisers, said Melissa Rosenthal Brenner, NBA s VP of digital media, according to Variety.
Photo: The Facebook login page (Stace Maude/Associated Press)
