Facebook set to install videos ads on newsfeed

FACEBOOK will launch video advertising on its users’ news feeds as the company seeks new revenue following its ill-fated debut on the stock exchange last year.

Facebook is set to introduce video advertising to its news feeds. Picture: Reuters

• Facebook set to introduce video advertising to news feeds

• 15-second clips expected to include content from major companies such as Unilever, Nestle and Coca Cola

The social networking site, which has more than one billion active users globally, is eager to tap into the rapidly-expanding online video advertising market, currently worth $4.1 billion in the US.

Though dwarfed by the dominant television ad market, valued at $64.5 billion, the sector grew 41.4 per cent from last year.

Facebook intends to install video ads on users’ news feeds, with the first video starting automatically. If users want to hear the advert - which is initially muted - then the video restarts with the sound in place. Each ad is expected to last for 15 seconds.

Initial proposals suggest that users will only see video content from one advertiser per day.

Companies such as Ford, Unilever, Nestle, Ford, Diageo and Coca Cola - who sit on Facebook’s client council - are expected to take part in the initial trials.

Analysts have raised concerns that the videos could disrupt the user experience, but Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research, said the ads would not be more intrusive than other ads currently on Facebook.

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