Update One: Facebook has confirmed the rumors in a blog post. Contrary to the Journal’s suggestion that the product would get a full rollout, video ads will land in the news feeds of “a small number of people” as part of of a one-day trial this Thursday — on both mobile and desktop — Facebook says.
The company confirms that the video ads will autoplay but without sound — tapping or clicking on ads will unmute them. Like Instagram, users on mobile devices will be able to set autoplay to WiFi connections only to save on using mobile data.
One final thing to note is that two ‘related’ videos will show at the end of each ad spot “making it easy to continue to discover content from the same marketers.”
Update Two: This is what the new video ad will look like:
The <3 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
— Our original post continues below —
Leaked documents have already shown that Facebook is in the verge of introducing video adverts to its social network, and now it seems that users may be seeing video ad spots in their News Feed from as early as Thursday this week.
That’s according to a Wall Street Journal report (paywalled) claiming that the company will announce its video ad service on Tuesday, with ads rolling out two days later.
Ads will autoplay to users but it remains unclear how long they will be permitted to run for. The Journal has no info on that, but it says Lions Gate Entertainment will be among the first to use the medium.
➤ Facebook to Sell Video Ads [Wall Street Journal]
Image via West McGowan / Flickr
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.