Dive Brief:

• Facebook’s latest ad buying option is for news feeds that are 100% in-view, but with a caveat – the ads come with no minimum in-view time before advertisers are charged.
• In practice the new option may not add a lot of value for marketers if users are quickly scrolling through their news feed, an ad will be 100% in-view even if only briefly.
• The social media platform is in the midst of a range of ad changes including video ad revenue sharing with publishers, no longer charging for social clicks, and offering the ability to track ad performance to sale.

Dive Insight:

Advertisers on Facebook have a new option for news feed ads with the ability to now only pay for ads that are 100% in view. The catch to the new option is there is no minimum time for the ad to be completely visible before the marketer is charged, so if the user is rapidly scrolling through the news feed the ad will appear, but only for an instant. Some brands, such as Unilever, have demanded 100% viewability with no concern over how long the ad is in view, but other marketers may be leery of the new policy.

Keith Weed, Unilver's chief marketing and communications officer, said in a statement, "It is very encouraging to see Facebook joining the ranks of digital media partners who are setting themselves apart – and this commitment continues the momentum. Our hope is that these steps will lead ultimately to 100% viewability through third party verification across the industry."

Facebook has been very active in tweaking its advertising offerings and policies this summer. In early July it announced a video ad revenue sharing program with publishers. In a major change in policy it stopped charging advertisers for social clicks, such as “likes” and “shares” and instead only began charging for “link clicks” within the ads. And it is actively testing a way to track ad performance to a sale conversion, even at a brick-and-mortar location.