In a move to capture a piece of the lucrative television ad-market pie, Facebook has officially launched its video ad program.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company began testing 15-second video ads in December, but has subsequently delayed the rollout several times. As of today, however, these short spots will be available for purchase by "a select group of advertisers."
Users can expect to see the new ads show up in their news feeds over the next few months.
In a blog post on its website, Facebook outlines how the ads will work: "Each 15-second video ad will start playing without sound as it appears on screen and stop if people scroll past," the company said. "If people tap the video, it will expand into a full-screen view and sound will start."
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Facebook stands to gain quite a bit from the rollout. The ads will range in price from $1 million to around $2.5 million a day, Bloomberg reported. Marketers will be able to target their reach by age and gender.
Perhaps to dissuade resistance from users, who are generally loathe to both change and ads, the social media giant emphasized that all spots will be screened for "watchability" before they appear on the site.
"We’re working with a company called Ace Metrix to help us review and assess how engaging the creative is for each ad," the company said. "Ace Metrix will allow us to objectively measure the creative quality of the video in the Facebook environment, and highlight performance indicators for advertisers such as watchability, meaningfulness and emotional resonance."
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