Facebook (FB) Reports Testing Promoted Videos in News Feed

Facebook (Naasdaq: FB) said it has been testing a new way to ad promoted videos into users' news feeds since last September. The effort has garnered a 10 percent increase in views, likes, shares and comments as a result. The following update was made in an official blog post today [note: there's a video on the other side of the link]:

We're beginning to test a similar video viewing format for advertisers. Marketers will be able to use this new format to tell their stories to a large number of people on Facebook in a short amount of time - with high-quality sight, sound and motion. This approach will continue to improve the quality of ads that you see in News Feed.

This week, a small number of people will see video ads for the new film 'Divergent' begin playing as they come into view in News Feed on mobile and desktop. Here’s how it will work:

-- 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.
-- At the end of the video a carousel of two additional videos will appear, making it easy to continue to discover content from the same marketers.
-- On mobile devices, all videos that begin playing as they appear on the screen will have been downloaded in advance when the device was connected to WiFi – meaning this content will not consume data plans, even if you're not connected to WiFi at the time of playback.

We’ll continue to refine this new way for brands to tell stories on Facebook to ensure the bestexperience for people and marketers.For more specifics on this feature for marketers, read our post on Facebook for Business.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which videos start playing in News Feed?
A: At this time, videos start playing from:

1. Individuals (personal Facebook accounts or verified Pages
2. Some Pages, like those of entertainers and sports organizations
3. Summit Entertainment’s content for Divergent

Q: Is there a way to prevent these video ads from playing as they appear on screen?
A: The video ads will begin to play as you scroll through News Feed, but if you don’t want to watch, you can simply keep scrolling and the video will stop playing. Video ads are pre-downloaded when you are on WiFi so they do not consume additional data.

Q: When do videos play with sound?
A: Videos will not play with sound unless you turn the sound on. To do this, click or tap on the video.

Q: When will all video content begin to play as it appears on screen?
A: This is an initial, limited test. We will let you know if/when you'll begin seeing more video content begin to play as it comes into view.

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