Facebook will begin offering autoplay video ads today, according to Bloomberg.
Users will see no more than three of the video commercials per day, Sarah Frier writes:
The ads will range in price from $1 million to about $2.5 million a day, people familiar with the matter have said.
The move has been expected for months, and their launch has been delayed several times. While advertisers can start buying the ads today, that means users will start seeing them in late April or early May.
Facebook's Instagram unit recently did a $100 million ad buying deal with Publicis Omnicom Group, a giant ad agency holding company that buys billions in TV advertising every year. The pair will be working developing best practices for ways other advertisers can use Instagram ad products.
The social network is hoping to persuade TV advertisers that its targeting and analytics are vastly superior to broadcast TV.
The videos won't be too intrusive — the sound won't blast at you as soon as they appear. Volume will only click on if you tap the ad, Facebook says:
- Rather than having to click or tap to play, videos will begin to play as they appear onscreen - without sound - similar to how they behave when shared by friends or verified Pages. If you don’t want to watch the video, you can simply scroll or swipe past it.
- If the video is clicked or tapped and played in full screen, the sound for that video will play as well.
Facebook is also promising the ads won't suck. Before each one is allowed onto the system, it must be reviewed by Ace Metrix, a company that gauges how much people like or dislike TV commercials.
