META Meta Platforms Inc

By Jack Marshall 

As Facebook ramps up its video ambitions, get ready for more commercial breaks.

Beginning Thursday, the company said it would give marketers the ability to run video ads specifically as "in-stream" placements, meaning they will appear as ad breaks in the middle of publishers' videos. Up until now, advertisers had only been able to run video ads on Facebook as stand-alone posts in users' feeds, aside from a limited test of in-stream video ads.

Advertisers also will be given the option to specify whether they would like their in-stream ads to appear on Facebook itself, or across the range of websites and apps in Facebook's Audience Network ad network product. They can also choose both.

The move is a timely one given Facebook's recent efforts to attract long-form original programming to its platform, as opposed to the short, shareable videos that users already consume fleetingly in their news feeds. Earlier this month, the company announced the launch of a new platform called "Watch," where it plans to surface original video series from a wide range of publishers and content creators.

Facebook has already been testing in-stream ads in videos over 90 seconds long for a number of months, but the addition of Watch content could create a host of new ad space for video advertisers to fill, provided the new shows succeed in attracting viewers and holding their attention.

The ability to specifically purchase video ads that are more akin to commercial breaks sets up Facebook's original programming as more of a competitor to YouTube, Hulu and even linear television for brands' advertising dollars.

Facebook has said that its goal is to create an ecosystem with Watch where creators of the original shows can be entirely supported by revenue from ad breaks in the middle of their videos.

Facebook's publishing partners say the shows they are working on range from episodes two minutes in length all the way up to one hour, and the company has also announced deals to air multi-hour sporting events such as Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer matches. Facebook hasn't specified how much advertising time can be carried during publishers' videos.

"There's a spectrum of ways people are watching video on Facebook. There are shorter, on-the-go experiences and longer, lean-back experiences," said Kate Orseth, a product marketing manager at Facebook. "We're building ad products to match those experiences and behaviors."

Advertisers won't currently be given the opportunity to purchase ad space in Watch shows specifically, Ms. Orseth added.

The addition of in-stream-only ad options might help attract ad dollars from marketers who have been reluctant to buy video ads in the news feed over concerns about the amount of time people actually view their ads.

"This is something advertisers asked us for," Ms. Orseth said.

So far, more than 70% of in-stream video ads up to 15 seconds in length were watched to completion, Facebook said. That includes the Audience Network, where in-stream video ads have been available since last year.

In terms of billing and reporting, advertisers will be given the same options for in-stream video as they have in the news feed, Facebook said. For example, advertisers can opt to pay only when their ads are viewed for at least 10 seconds, if they wish, albeit for a higher price.

Write to Jack Marshall at Jack.Marshall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 17, 2017 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)

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