Facebook to Add 15-second Video Ads to Timeline by April
Shelly Palmer
Your Facebook News Feed is about to get more annoying. The social network is getting ready to populate feeds with video ads according to AdAge. Why now? To “attract big swaths of ad dollars from TV advertisers.” By April, Facebook will reportedly have video ads airing on its desktop site and smartphone and tablet apps. Each ad will likely be around 15 seconds and will automatically play, although whether audio will be auto-triggered is uncertain at this point. AdAge’s Facebook sources say that advertisers can display their ads up to three times to a single user across any platform in a day and on the desktop ads will “grab a user’s attention by expanding out of the news feed into webpage real estate in both the left and right columns — or rails — of the screen.” Facebook’s foray into video ads will look to “grab big chunks of money … millions of dollars” according to the Facebook sources.
