After months of speculation and scuttlebutt Facebook has announced it will launch video ads in late April.

Video star?

Facebook announced it had partnered with a select group of advertisers to launch the new ad units.

The 15-second video ads will appear in the News Feed and begin auto-playing once a user scrolls over the ad. Videos won’t play sound unless the user clicks on the ad.

Measurement

Facebook will partner with Nielsen to measure audience engagement, with advertising rates based on Nielson's data.

To  ensure quality control, Facebook is working with Ace Metrix to ensure each video ad meets benchmarks including watchability, meaningfulness and emotional resonance.

User concerns

Video ads have long been anticipated on Facebook, which is rumoured to be rolling out a similar product on Instagram.

While videos are one of the most shared types of content of Facebook, how users will respond to video ads remains unknown. Something Facebook seems to appreciate.

“We’ll roll out Premium Video Ads slowly and monitor how people interact with them. This limited introduction allows us to concentrate our efforts on a smaller number of advertisers with high-quality campaigns,” Facebook said.

We’ll all have to watch and see what happens next.

To find out more visit facebook.com/business/news. 

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