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. Facebook Testing Auto-Play Video Ads [facebook.com]
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.
topr8
11:06 pm on Dec 17, 2013 (gmt 0)
it makes sense to me ... the future of the internet in general is video i believe and autoplay is good.
as a user, some newspaper sites (in uk) have autoplay video including sound, which drives me crazy ... the sound off is a smart move from facebook.
OT. developments like this are in general bad news for the small guy ... compelling text is a reasonably (ok there are some word geniuses out there, but excepting them) level playing field, once you get into video, a one man business is struggling to compete.
mack
11:32 pm on Dec 17, 2013 (gmt 0)
I really don't like the idea of auto play. Typically I will use the web with some sort of media playing in the background. What I don’t want is content to automatically play and cause me to either stop it, or stop what I was listening to. The exception is video without audio? Not sure how effective this would be for marketing TBO.
I’m never in favour of a page that plays any audio content without being user initiated.
Mack.
travelin cat
11:38 pm on Dec 17, 2013 (gmt 0)
At least the sound isn't auto play.
If the video is clicked or tapped and played in full screen, the sound for that video will play as well.
tbear
11:39 pm on Dec 17, 2013 (gmt 0)
Something else to slow down FBook (for me, at least)........... :(
not2easy
12:46 am on Dec 18, 2013 (gmt 0)
G+: "Hey, thanks!"
bill
5:05 am on Dec 18, 2013 (gmt 0)
Personally I think auto-play will encourage me to use FB even less than I do now. I'm sure there will be a market for browser extensions or add-ons that block this behavior. Knowing FB this will not be an opt-in setting...
Facebook Testing Auto-Play Video Ads
