Facebook has announced that it will begin testing video ads from today – launching with a trailer for the upcoming film ‘Divergent’.
From Tuesday, a small number of people will see video ads for the film begin playing as they come into view in their newsfeed either on a mobile device or a desktop.
The videos will play without sound to begin with, however, if the video is clicked or tapped, it will play in full screen with sound. If the user does not want to watch the video, it can be scrolled or swiped past.
At the end of the video a carousel of two additional videos will appear, giving viewers the opportunity to discover more content from the same marketers.
On mobile devices, all videos that begin playing as they appear on the screen will have to be downloaded in advance via a WiFi connection, meaning that content will not consume data plans.
“Marketers will be able to use this new format to tell their stories to a large number of people on Facebook in a short amout of time – with high-quality sight, sound and motion,” Facebook wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.
“This approach will continue to improve the quality of ads that you see in newsfeed.”
The pricing remains unconfirmed, however, Ad Age reported earlier this year that Facebook was offering the ad slots to marketers for $1 million per day and was looking to net $4 million in new ad revenue if it fully sold out.
Facebook’s shares hit an all-time high of $55.18 after the news was announced, finally closing at $54.86 on Tuesday.
