In anticipation of Advertising Week and the impending Holiday season, Facebook has unveiled two new ways to buy and deliver video ads on their platform.
Facebook is evidently determined to claim its share of the video advertising pie, which was previously a YouTube stronghold. The two new options, In-Stream Reserve and ThruPlay, aim to provide a wider range of possibilities for publishers and advertisers on the platform.
What is In-Stream Reserve?
The whole idea of In-Stream Reserve was conceptualised with brand-safe advertising in mind. It allows brands to widen their reach by banking on a pre-selected list of high-quality and tried-and-tested video publishers and content creators.
It’s currently available only to select advertisers who are targeting US audiences. However, experience tells us that it should be available to the rest of the globe once a certain level of success had been established.
By capitalising on the most popular video creators on Facebook, In-Stream Reserve promotes brand awareness in the largest scale. Businesses with a wide audience demographic will most likely find this option ideal for their respective campaigns.
In more ways than one, In-Stream Reserve imitates the principles of classic TV advertising. Only this time, it’s supposed to work better for harder-to-reach demographics—such as younger audiences that don’t watch as much TV.
For campaigns that need a little bit more targeting, there’s also In-Stream Reserve Categories that allow advertisers to buy content packages in specific categories, such as fashion, beauty, entertainment, sports, and home life.
Advertisers will also have the option to place ads in just one Facebook show. Signing up to be the exclusive advertiser for a particular show is also possible. Note that this feature is currently still on the testing stage. Popular original shows on Facebook Watch, such as Ball in the Family and Red Table Talk, have been chosen as the testing platforms.
What ThruPlay is all about
ThruPlay, on the other hand, lets advertisers optimise for completed video views. Through this feature, Facebook will only charge you for ads that were watched to completion (or for at least 15 seconds).
ThruPlay ads can be situated across all video placements on Facebook, Instagram, and the Audience Network. This means that you can roll out ads on all videos whether they’re in-stream, on-feed, or via stories.
In theory, this should help you maximise your ad’s reach. People have the option to skip ads on their feed and stories, and using ThruPlay ensures that you only have to pay for the 15-second ads that were watched in full.
Like In-Stream Reserve, ThruPlay’s availability is currently limited, but it’s scheduled to roll out globally in several weeks’ time.
Evidently, Facebook is still in the process of finding the right balance between accommodating as many advertisers as possible for revenue, and preserving the quality of its users’ viewing experience. However, one thing is for sure: the company is keen to open up new opportunities for publishers and advertisers to make use and take advantage of.