The recent announcement that Facebook would soon allow all publishers to access its Instant Articles platform wasn’t the only change coming to the platform. The social network also told The Wall Street Journal that it plans to enable publishers to place video ads into content published on the platform.
Facebook said it would allow publishers to place a single ad unit at the bottom of every Instant Article, a move that the company suggests could increase ad impressions by up to 20 percent. The current rules allow for one ad for every 350 words of content.
“In our conversations with publishers, these changes popped up as the biggest steps we could take to make the biggest impact,” said Josh Roberts, Instant Articles product manager at Facebook.
Unfortunately for users, the ads can be either autoplay or user-initiated, a move that might make some users unhappy.
Roberts also suggests two additional changes that are being kicked around at Facebook: the inclusion of sponsored content and the ability to allow some publishers to collect user email addresses.
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No word on when the video ad placements will go live, or if the additional changes will make it past the drawing board.
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