Facebook Inc. (FB) About to Unveil Video Ads in Newsfeed?

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has been making some serious inroads in display advertising on its platform, and especially making some solid progress in advertising on mobile devices as its 1 billion users are getting more mobile. But is the display advertising getting stale? It seems that Facebook thinks so and is apparently just weeks away from a dynamic update to its Newsfeed advertising efforts.

There have been rumors floating for a little while that video would find its way into the advertising platform on Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), but chief marketing officer David Fischer apparently confirmed the rumors when he spoke at the Future of Media Conference at Stanford University, stating that the reality of auto-play video advertising exists and may be available in a matter of weeks.

Fischer did say that Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has been searching for ways to develop more “attention-grabbing” advertisements that are more than sidebar ads and Newsfeed photo and text advertisements. But while he acknowledged that auto-play ads can be distracting, he insisted that “there are ways we could do it.”

When asked about the concept of video ads embedded in Newsfeed, Fischer said, “There are ways that could be destructive and distracting to the user experience. But there are ways that could potentially balance user experience with advertiser experience. We haven’t put a product out yet because we haven’t had one we’re comfortable with. But if we could, then we would do it.”

As an example of how Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) could make video work, Fischer commented about rival Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and how YouTube works with its TrueView feature, in which users can skip an ad after 5 seconds, and advertisers aren’t charged for the ad unless the uer goes all the way through the ad.

What do you think? Can Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) succeed with video advertising? Let us know your thoughts about this concept in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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