Facebook gets ready to put autoplaying video ads in your newsfeed, on desktops and mobiles

[Newsjock]

Source: Ad Age

... Facebook is set to unveil a new video-ad product in the first half of next year in its largest attempt to date to attract big swaths of ad dollars from TV advertisers, according to several industry executives who have been briefed on the company's plans over the past few weeks.

Facebook is still debating several product features, but has decided on this much to date, these executives said: By April at the latest, it will offer video advertisers the chance to target video ads to large numbers of Facebook users in their news feeds on both the desktop version of Facebook as well as on Facebook apps on mobile phones and tablets.

... In what's sure to be a controversial move, the visual component of the Facebook video ads will start playing automatically -- a dynamic known as "autoplay" -- according to two of the executives. Facebook is still debating whether to have the audio component of the ads activated automatically as well, one of these people said.

... At the top of the list of concerns is the autoplay function, which is often viewed as intrusive and sometimes as a source of fraud in the video-ad market, when autoplay ads count toward a view even if someone isn't watching them. Additionally, some of those interviewed said they are concerned that Facebook visitors will quickly become tired of ads from advertisers with which they or their friends have no relationship, even if advertisers tailor the ads based on information in a person's profile.

Read more: http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-preps-bring-video-ads-news-feed/238825/

[a geek named Bob]

1. guarantees I'll never buy the advertised product...

and I'll encourage everyone I know not to buy said product...

[treestar]

2. Already happens on the iPhone

The trouble is that they could overplay their hand - people will abandon facebook because it is too irritating - they should stick with the profit margins they already have.

Sirius radio is like this - you pay for it, but they still sneak ads in on channels that play talking content and now they have DJs talking on the music channels. These DJs talk more and more over time. If they move to the point where they play ads on the music channels, hoping people will continue to pay in order to hear the specialized nature of the channels, that may be too much.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. Adblock is your friend. Facebook is evil. n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I just leave my speakers on mute. nt

[qanda]

5. It's getting pretty crazy

But Facebook has to make money somehow. I would rather pay a monthly fee to have ad-free access to a site (ie, DU) than have these type of intrusive measures foisted upon me.

[hobbit709]

7. They're making plenty of money now from data mining.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

6. I'd much rather see ads that Facebook places than the ignorance of family...

And former schoolmates.