Last week (16 May), Facebook announced that they are going to extend the reach of video adverts through their Audience Network. The announcement will mean that beyond just Facebook and Instagram, advertisers will now be able to buy video inventory across other publisher apps and sites through FAN. What does this move by Facebook mean for the video market?

According to Facebook, 100 million hours of video are watched on their social media platform every day, and video viewing time on Instagram has increased by more than 40% in the last six months. Snackable video content is what consumers want, and nobody is more aware of that than Facebook; so why not take their hugely successful video advertising model and expand it to other publisher sites?

As reported last week (20 May) by ExchangeWire, Facebook are launching this video extension in two ad formats; in-article and in-stream. In-article will start with Facebook Instant Articles, with video ads up to 20 minutes in length placed between text on publisher sites and played automatically when at least 50% of pixels are in view. In-stream video ads will appear as pre-, mid- or post-roll at 10 to 30 seconds in length within third-party apps and across mobile and desktop sites. Advertisers won’t be able to determine where their ads are shown, but Facebook are hoping that won’t matter due to the richness of their audience data and targeting capabilities.

Facebook’s move will undoubtedly be a boon to publishers who have struggled with the complexities in, and fragmentation of, the lucrative video supply market and are looking for an easier way to establish a foothold.

This move pits Facebook firmly against Google and its ability to monetise both YouTube hosted and third-party hosted video content. However, what hasn’t been made clear by Facebook, and what might not sit so well with consumers, is whether the in-stream ads can be skipped.

Pre-roll ads have never been the most popular ad formats with consumers and are a reason why Google redeveloped their entire in-stream offering – non-skippable ads can now only be a maximum 15 seconds in length (20 seconds in EMEA, India, Malaysia, and Singapore) and any video ads longer than this must be able to be skipped after five seconds. With Facebook encouraging advertisers to produce 30-second ads, the onus is on both the advertiser to create compelling and engaging ads that will make consumers want to view the ad for the duration; and the publisher to ensure that the content the consumer intends to view is worth the wait. Get them both wrong and it’s a lose-lose situation, with the advertiser seeing poor campaign performance and the publisher losing site visitors over time.

Facebook’s foray into video also begs the question as to how this will impact video buying within agencies and in-house buying teams. Existing business infrastructure often sees Facebook and other social channels sitting quite separate from TV, VOD, and programmatic video buying teams. Could this result in some internal land-grabbing? It’s hard to say. Facebook have made it very clear that extending the Facebook Audience Network into video is designed to achieve brand outcomes, i.e. views. Or, to put it another way, they’re vying after TV ad spend. Either way, it could signal a necessary convergence, not only of digital marketing teams, but traditional marketing teams, as Facebook move further and further away from it’s ‘social network’ label.

Keen to understand industry views on whether Facebook extending it’s audience network reach into video is a shrewd move, ExchangeWire asked industry leaders to weigh in:

In-stream ads not an appropriate value exchange

"Adding further video inventory to the Facebook Audience Network is a natural and necessary progression. The amount of money that brands are spending on video continues to rise faster than any other form of digital marketing, and Facebook is looking for a bigger slice of this growing pie. It is positive to see Facebook looking at ‘in-article’ placements; however, the main format being pushed might cause issues for consumers, and consequently, brands. Their in-stream format, with the creative appearing either before, during, or after video content; forcing consumers to watch advertising before being granted access to content doesn’t sit well with users. For traditional video formats, like TV and cinema, viewers were happy with a short number of ads in order to watch quality long-form content. Whereas online pre-roll ads today often force the user to watch 30 seconds of video for 30 seconds of content – this is not an appropriate value exchange. In fact, over half of global web users find pre-roll ads are the most intrusive format. The intrusive nature of pre-roll actually causes two-thirds of internet users to leave a page in less than two seconds. Consequently, brands may be nervous about spending money on a format that not only irritates their target audience, but causes the user to ignore the creative altogether. Only time will tell if irritated users protest with their eyeballs and brands follow suit. There’s also a broader issue for publishers to consider. If a consumer can view their content, video or otherwise, via Facebook, then there’s little incentive to visit the publisher’s own site. That matters, when Facebook is taking a slice of the advertising revenue for any content consumed within its walled garden. At a time when publishers are under extreme pressure to increase digital revenues, anything that dilutes these will be unwelcome. That said, the lure of Facebook’s billions of users may be too strong for some."

- Justin Taylor, UK MD, Teads

Financial incentives to local media 

"For local and regional media organisations, building and subsequently monetising a sizable video consumption audience should not be underestimated. Facebook’s foray into video has seen Facebook Live at its core in 2016, but there have been limited monetary benefits for publishers investing in this approach. The expansion of the Audience Network to include video advertising will offer financial incentives to local media in the UK to follow the national and international broadcasters in creating and distributing online video to their cultivated Facebook audiences. Publishers endeavouring to commit to distributed video will need to ensure both culture and structure can adapt, allowing video to be created and repurposed in a manner that appeals to platform, device and audience."

- Will Hattam, Chief Marketing Officer, Archant

Distribute & monetise video content at scale

"Numbers don’t lie; and the explosion of video on Facebook is there for everyone to see. Facebook expanding the FAN now offers publishers a golden opportunity to better monetise video. With its enhanced targeting capabilities, and engaged audiences, it will appeal to advertisers, primarily brands. Facebook is a giant with swarms of active users already consuming video content by the bucket load, the seamless integration with instant articles and increased visibility in feeds means video consumption won’t slow down anytime soon. As a global publisher with large, highly engaged social audiences, we think this is a great opportunity to distribute and monetise relevant video content at scale. It’s important that publishers continue to tailor the content to the platform, with users in mind, and create video that boosts engagement. Facebook users view over 100 million hours of video every day; and premium publishers will be looking to build strategic presences on this platform, opening up new monetisation opportunities.

"Q: Will more ads stop users watching?
A: Do people still watch videos on YouTube?"

 - Akhil Suchak, Head of Social, Bauer Xcel Media

Canny Move for Facebook’s Ad Business

"Facebook’s latest move highlights the importance brands and platforms are placing on video, recognising it as the most powerful way to connect with consumers. This is a canny move for Facebook’s ad business, as it continues to seize even bigger portions of campaign budgets away from other more traditional channels. Facebook is no longer merely a social network; ad planners are now viewing the platform as a video-rich and mobile-first content hub. At this stage, little has been said about the quality of the video being offered, or the engagement opportunities that could potentially be embedded within the videos. These are questions that advertisers will want to know the answers to. Looking ahead it will also be interesting to see if Facebook further builds out its capabilities to offer additional rich media elements."

- Mark Slade, Managing Director, EMEA, Opera Mediaworks