In an effort to better capitalize on its billion-plus members, Facebook may be looking to roll out its own video-based ad service as soon as this summer, a report by Ad Age indicates. Placing a video ad on Facebook won't come cheaply though, claim three executives briefed by Facebook on the upcoming service. The social network is aiming for the sky on this one, charging up to one million dollars for a relatively short 15 second spot.
It appears Facebook is currently experimenting with four daily advertising slots, meaning the service could generate about four million dollars in revenue per day. Also, it seems the company intends to create a system where users won't see the same video ads more than once per day while simultaneously limiting the total delivery of ads to three per user per day.
The format of Facebook's video ads remains unclear, although previous rumors suggested the 15 second ads will play automatically and take up a portion of the screen larger than just the "News Feed" area. Autoplay ads may prove controversial with its users, although Facebook may opt to have those ads muted by default. It is also unclear how video ads will be delivered on mobile devices, if at all.
Facebook's video ads are expected to have unusually broad, TV commercial-like target audiences. As an example, target demographics for its video advertisements will be: women under 30, women over 30, men under 30 and men over 30.
Facebook's first advertising slots are slated to open in June and July.