Facebook introduces new advertising options on Reels and Stories
Facebook is introducing new advertising opportunities for brands across Facebook and Instagram, including the trial of ad on Reels.
Reels ads will begin testing in Australia, India, Brazil and Germany and will be similar to ads in Instagram stories in running for a maximum of 30 seconds and taking on a full-screen format on mobile.
Users will be able to like, view, save, share and skip Reels ads like they would with organic Reels content. The ads can be served in most places Reels are shown to users; through the Reels tab, Reels in Stories, Reels in Explore and Reels in the feed.
The Reels test comes a month after Instagram introduced advertisements on IGTV, which shares revenue between the content creator and the brand.
Over on Facebook, advertisers will be able to narrow down the streamed content they want the ads served on with a new option in the Ad Manager that provides over 20 different video topics. The new function will enable brands to match their ads with relevant content with machine learning. As a result brands will reach more engaged video viewers.
Facebook gave the example that a baseball bat company can now place ads in content that would be of interest to their customers, such as ‘Baseball’.
The new feature is backed by the finding that adding a Facebook in-stream campaign to a Feed and Stories buy led to a median 1.5 times increase in ad recall and a median 20% decrease in cost per incremental recaller.
Globally, 70% of Facebook in-stream standalone video ads views are completed.
Also on Facebook, custom sticker ads will be tested on Facebook stories which enable creators to monetise their Facebook Stories and receive a portion of the resulting revenue.
Brands will be able to create bespoke stickers and creators can proactively place these Sticker Ads in their Facebook Stories.
Will Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia, said: “For years we’ve shared how popular Facebook and Instagram video are for connecting with brands, but today’s new insights demonstrate the ongoing growth of that engagement.
“Every day brands are finding innovative ways to connect with audiences using our video tools, and that includes new formats like Instagram Reels. Australians are embracing the short-form video format, so it’s fitting that we’re one of a handful of countries to begin testing ads across the Reels platform today.”
The launch comes in the same week as Facebook’s Instagram launched new anti-bullying tools to protect high-profile accounts from harassment. The new Direct Message controls filter out abusive messages from the direct message request inbox, and a new blocking feature will give users the option to block all future accounts attached to a user they may create.
Facebook has also announced an update to its audio services in response to the industry’s growth, with podcasts now able to be accessed directly on the Facebook app.
