Testing a New Way for Marketers to Tell Stories in News Feed

Since September, we have been testing an easier way to watch videos shared by friends. Without having to click or tap play, videos come to life in News Feed and start playing without sound. Through the course of this test, we’ve seen a more than 10% increase in people watching, liking, sharing and commenting on videos. It’s a better experience for people and it’s leading to increased engagement.

This week, we’re starting to test this richer storytelling format for advertisers. Compelling sight, sound and motion are often integral components of great marketing campaigns, particularly when brands want to increase awareness and attention over a short period of time. From launching new products to shifting brand sentiment, this video format is ideal for marketers who are looking to make a large-scale impact, and for people who will discover more great content in their News Feeds.

For this test, we’re working with Summit Entertainment and Mindshare to promote a series of videos for the upcoming film, Divergent. Some people will see these video ads come to life as they scroll through News Feed on mobile and desktop. Here’s how it will work:

• Rather than having to click or tap on the content, videos will begin to play as they appear on screen — without sound — similar to how they behave when shared by friends now. If you don’t want to watch the video, you can simply scroll past it.
• If the video is clicked or tapped and played in full screen, the sound for that video will play as well
• At the end of the video, a carousel featuring two additional videos will appear, making it easy to discover more content from the same marketer
• On mobile devices, all videos that begin playing as they appear on the screen will have been downloaded in advance when the device was connected to WiFi — meaning this content will not consume data plans, even if you’re not connected to WiFi at the time of playback

This format isn’t intended for every video ad or Page post video on Facebook; it meets specific needs for certain marketers with certain objectives. We’ll continue to refine this new way for brands to tell stories on Facebook to ensure the best experience for people and marketers.

Have a look below to see this new feature in action.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which videos start playing in News Feed?

At this time, videos start playing from:

• Individuals (personal Facebook accounts or verified Pages)
• Some Pages, like those of entertainers and sports organizations
• Summit Entertainment’s content for Divergent

Is there a way to prevent these video ads from playing as they appear on screen?

The video ads will begin to play as you scroll through News Feed, but if you don’t want to watch, you can simply keep scrolling and the video will stop playing. Video ads that start playing when they appear on screen are pre-downloaded when you are on WiFi so they do not consume additional data.

When do videos play with sound?

Videos will not play with sound unless you turn the sound on. To do this, click or tap on the video.

When will all people start seeing videos from brands play as they appear on screen? When will all marketers be able to have videos play as they appear on screen?

This is an initial, limited test. We will let you know if/when the product becomes more widely available.

Will the pricing structure for these types of video ads be similar to the current Page post video offering?

We do not disclose pricing. The goal for this test feature is to be a premium advertising format on Facebook, intended to reach a large audience at specific times.

Eventually, will all promoted videos begin playing as they appear on screen?

This is an initial, limited test. We’ll determine future uses based on what we learn from this test.

How is this feature different from Page post video ads?

This premium feature is specifically designed for awareness campaigns that are meant to reach a large number of people to increase interest in a brand, product or content, in a short amount of time. Page post video ads can then come into play to sustain the message of this initial campaign over longer time periods, in more targeted ways.

Premium Video Ads on Facebook

In December, we started testing Premium Video Ads as a way for advertisers to drive branding objectives on Facebook. Starting today, we’re introducing these ads on Facebook with a select group of advertisers.

Premium Video Ads are designed for advertisers who want to reach a large audience with high-quality sight, sound and motion. Each 15-second video ad will start playing without sound as it appears on screen and stop if people scroll past. If people tap the video, it will expand into a full-screen view and sound will start. People can expect to begin seeing these new ads over the next few months.

Premium Video Ads are bought and measured in a way that’s similar to how advertisers already buy and measure ads on TV. The ads are bought based on Targeted Gross Rating Points to reach a specific audience over a short period of time. Delivery is measured by an independent third party, Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings (OCR), and advertisers only pay based on what Nielsen OCR measures.

To make sure Premium Video Ads are as good as other content people see in their News Feeds, we’re working with a company called Ace Metrix to help us review and assess how engaging the creative is for each ad — before it appears on Facebook. Ace Metrix will allow us to objectively measure the creative quality of the video in the Facebook environment, and highlight performance indicators for advertisers such as watchability, meaningfulness and emotional resonance. We’re taking this step in order to maintain high-quality ads on Facebook and help advertisers understand what’s working to maximize their return on investment.

With Premium Video Ads, brands now have another way of engaging people on Facebook with compelling video experiences. We’ll roll out Premium Video Ads slowly and monitor how people interact with them. This limited introduction allows us to concentrate our efforts on a smaller number of advertisers with high-quality campaigns to create the best possible experience on Facebook.

Thanks: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/Premium-Video-Ads-on-Facebook

The Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST)

What is VAST? (The Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST))

The digital video ad serving template (VAST) provides a standardized method for communicating the status of a video ad back to the ad servers in the case where the ad is served from a dynamically selected ad server. It is specifically designed for on-demand videoplayer where the ad response is parsed prior to play.

VAST is applicable to Linear Video Ads (such as "pre-rolls"), Non-linear Video Ads (such as "overlays") and Companion ads as defined in the IAB Digital Video Ad Format Guidelines.

History

Due to both strong industry adoption and an evolving marketplace, VAST has continued to be updated in order to stay relevant.

VAST 1.0

The initial version of VAST was released in September 2008.

VAST 2.0

Released in November 2009, this formalized support for multiple creatives, linear and non-linear ads, and companion ads.

VAST 3.0

The upcoming version of VAST aims to include extensive industry feedback. :  http://www.iab.net/media/file/VASTv3.0.pdf

Compliance Program

The IAB allows members who have self attested to compliance with the VAST guidelines to obtain and post a VAST Complianceseal.

This Video Ad Serving Template (“VAST”) includes a standard XML-based ad response for in-stream video as well as an XML Schema Definition (“XSD”) for developers. It is meant to accommodate the majority of current practices within the online digital video advertising business.

VAST is designed for any on-demand video player where the ad response is parsed prior to play. For example, use of this standard would be appropriate within an Adobe Flash player if the ad response was requested and parsed in ActionScript but would not be appropriate if contained directly within a SMIL playlist directly sent to the player. It may be possible to use this XML format for applications other than on-demand viewing such as live video streaming, downloadable video players, set-top boxes, etc, but those applications are explicitly beyond the scope of the current effort.

The goal of this specification is to be compatible with any video player framework that has the ability to be scriptable. It will be up to each Secondary Ad Server to develop its own implementation of the standard and it will be up to each publisher or vendor to implement the standard in their Primary Ad Server and their Video Players.

Compliance Program for IAB members:

The IAB VAST Compliance Seal program has been designed to integrate into compliant member sites with ease. The IAB suggests that compliant member sites post the compliance seal in their online media kit as well as in their print versions. Media buyers will be educated about the benefits of VAST and be encouraged to look for the seal. The compliance seal must be placed according to IAB standards and should not be altered in any way. 

VAST Compliance Defined

 

Publishers who are VAST compliant self attest that they have implemented the standard XML-based ad response for in-stream video ad serving, as well as the XML Schema Definition (“XSD”) for developers.

How to Obtain the Compliance Seal:

In order to obtain the seal, a member company should download and fax theIAB Compliance Seal Application. Once the form has been received and reviewed, and assuming compliance, an attachment with the seal will be received by the compliant IAB member-company’s site.

Reference : http://www.iab.net/wiki/index.php/VAST

Search engine optimization & Search engine marketing

Difference between  Search engine optimization and  Search engine marketing

Search engine optimization

SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

Search engine marketing

A form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the Search Engine result pages.

Unique Browser & Unique visitor & Unique user & Unique Device & Unique Cookie

Unique Browser

An identified and unduplicated Cookied Browser that accesses Internet content or advertising during a measurement period. This definition requires taking account for the potentially inflationary impact of cookie deletion among certain of the cookied browsers that access Internet content.

Unique Cookie

A count of unique identifiers…that represents unduplicated instances of Internet activity (generally visits) to Internet content or advertising during a measurement period.

Unique Device

An unduplicated computing device that is used to access Internet content or advertising during a measurement period. A count of unduplicated devices necessarily accounts for multiple browser usage on an individual computer or other computing device.

Unique user

Unique individual or browser which has accessed a site or application and has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials or pop-under ads. Unique visitors can be identified by user registration, cookies, or third-party measurement like ComScore or Nielsen. Reported unique visitors should filter out bots. See iab.net for the audience reach measurement guidelines.

Unique visitor

Unique individual or browser which has accessed a site or application and has been served unique content and/or ads such as e-mail, newsletters, interstitials or pop-under ads. Unique visitors can be identified by user registration, cookies, or third-party measurement like ComScore or Nielsen. Reported unique visitors should filter out bots. See iab.net for the audience reach measurement guidelines.

Unique listeners/streamers : A metric specific to Digital Audio

The size of the audience for a given audio program, piece of content, or advertising message. Typically ‘listeners’ and ‘streamers’ are interchangeable.