If you're dreading the launch of auto-play video ads in your Facebook News Feed, here's some good news: Facebook is taking its time rolling them out. They may not appear in your feed until as late as this summer, sources say.
Three people familiar with Facebook's plans say the launch could come as early as late March or as late as early summer. Facebook is tinkering with the ad product and still reviewing tests with the Lionsgate film Divergent. That film was the only advertiser to use the ad unit when Facebook officially announced it in December. The company is also making sure the ad unit is robust enough to handle demand and provide quality analytics about how the ads perform, according to sources.
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Meanwhile, those sources familiar with Facebook's plans say advertisers are still a bit tentative about the ad units because of their lack of targeting and their high price tag.
Originally priced between $1 million and $2.5 million, the ads are now being pitched for as low as $600,000 per day, according to one source. That price will buy you one of four potential audiences — men over 35, men under 35, women over 35 and women over 35. To hit them all at once, the price jumps to around $2.4 million. Other sources, however, say Facebook is still quoting a starting price of $1 million for the ads in January. Reps from Facebook declined to comment.
Facebook's selling point to advertisers has been that you can reach consumers based on very specific demographic information and stated interests. In contrast, the video ads are more of a blunt instrument that are not much different than standard TV ad buys. On the other hand, as one source points out, $600,000 is pretty much the going rate for a page takeover. (A YouTube take over goes for $400,000, while one on Yahoo costs $450,000 according to Digiday.) Since Facebook guarantees that the ad will be in the first position on the News Feed for everyone who logs on that day, it's not a bad deal.
Another sticking point for advertisers is the lack of sound for the auto-play ads. Since most TV ads rely on sound to a certain degree, reconstituting a TV ad for Facebook doesn't work. So agencies must create new ads that somehow beckon users to click on them without using sound. Since Facebook values the user experience, though, no one expects the company to start offering sound anytime soon. Instead, the agency world will have to adapt this new ad unit.
As one person familiar with Facebook's plans noted, advertisers all seem to be waiting for someone else to go first. "Once advertisers are given the opportunity to buy them, they won't be lukewarm at all," a source said. "One it rolls out it will be a huge source of intrigue."
Originally introduced to advertisers in January 2013, Facebook has pushed back the release of auto-play video ads several times. In September 2013, the company began testing video ads in the News Feed with Subway, among other advertisers. Subway's ad reached some 88 million people and "millions" clicked on it, Tony Pace, CMO for the sandwich chain, told The Wall Street Journal.
Despite such success, consumers appear wary of such ads. In a December Mashable poll of 1,130 readers, 61% of respondents said they hate or "don't love" the idea of auto-play ads in the News Feed.
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