Facebook plans to sell video ads for other companies

Dive Brief:

In addition to allowing publishers to run video ads on Facebook Instant Articles content, the tech giant has plans to sell ads for other companies, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The social network is taking on Google more directly on with its new video ads that run pre-, mid- and post-roll on third-party publishers. USA Today Sports Media Group and Daily Mail will both begin serving video ads via Facebook Audience Network.
With this move, Facebook sets itself up to better compete with Google. Per the Journal, Facebook will take a share of the revenue when it helps marketers sell and place video ads "in-stream" and "in-article."

Dive Insight:

Facebook has made video its clear priority over the last half year through algorithm changes that push video content in its users’ news feeds. It has even given the Facebook Live video streaming feature priority real estate on the mobile app.

One issue for marketers with the new ad units is in-video ads are mostly not liked by end users and user experience is becoming more of a concern for the online ad industry overall. Though users view 100 million hours of video daily on Facebook, Adweek notes that a survey from earlier this year shows 52% of users think pre-roll ads are one of the most intrusive ad formats.

Meanwhile, publishers are also investing heavily in video, and Facebook wants to be the platform they turn to when distributing online video ads. Though Facebook's ad revenue is already seeing a steady rise, up 57% in the first quarter to $5.2 billion, it is advantageous for the social network -- and for marketers looking to leverage Facebook's trove of data -- to zoom in on video. In fact, per eMarketer, digital video ad spending is expected to grow 28.5% this year to $9.84 billion in the U.S. this year.

The other perk for marketers from this new deal is that they'll be able to use Facebook's targeting capabilities across the Audience Network just as they would on the social network, the Journal explains.

About the new ad units, Brett Vogel, Facebook Audience Network's lead product marketing manager, told Adweek, "Video is exploding and we see that trend continuing. Both with publishers and with advertisers on the Audience Network. So the goal is to bring great ads into that format, helping advertisers, publishers and improving the experience for people."