Video content continues to dominate Facebook with over 100 million hours of video served each day, however, this social media giant has been struggling to figure out a model for monetization until now. Monetization was initially launched on Facebook in 2015 but was only offered to a select number of premium brands such as Tastemade, NBA, Hearst, Funny or Die, and FOX Sports. The rapid growth of social video and the overall popularity of Facebook Live in 2016 caused Facebook to rethink its monetization strategy to open up this opportunity to a larger audience.
In an effort to help its partners and users make the most of their premium video content and generate more revenue, Facebook announced three major updates to its monetization policies:
In-Stream Ads on Audience Network
Facebook’s Audience Network is a service for Facebook’s advertisers to expand their campaigns beyond Facebook by placing their ads on third-party websites and apps. Facebook has been testing monetization on the Audience Network since May 2016, however, it was limited to a few premium partners. Today, Facebook is opening up this opportunity to all eligible Audience Network publishers, so that they can bring relevant video ads to their target audience across all mobile and desktop devices. In order to start monetizing, interested publishers must apply and be approved by Facebook. Facebook is not a fan of pre-roll ads because they believe it ruins the viewer experience, so the new video ads will be inserted into the middle of videos. Publishers will be able to upload and bid on the ads in advance, to enhance the viewer experience.
Ad Breaks on Facebook Live
With viewers spending on average, 3x longer watching live video broadcasts than native video uploads, Facebook has seen the value of live video and has decided to offer monetization services for one of its most popular features: Facebook Live. Monetization on Facebook Live will occur in the form of an Ad Break which allows the video creators to take a short “break” during their live stream of relevant video ads. The “breaks” will last 15 seconds in length and the broadcaster will receive a share of the revenue. The Ad Breaks will only be available after four minutes of content, with additional breaks available after every five-minute increment. Currently, only users that have 2,000 or more followers and have reached 300 or more concurrent viewers in a live video stream will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to earn additional revenue.
Ad Breaks in On-Demand Videos
Similar to the Facebook Live update, Facebook will be testing the Ad Breaks feature in on-demand videos. Any publisher that uploads a video onto Facebook directly may be able to monetize with Ad Breaks, however, this feature is still being tested and should be expanded in the next few months.
As Facebook continues to modify its monetization policies, Vydia will continue to update our own platform to provide these services to our users as soon as they become available. Make sure you follow our weekly blogs to stay up-to-date on these changes.