Facebook rolls out autoplay on user video content
Facebook Australia has activated a feature to automatically play videos uploaded directly to the site by users.
The changes were quietly being rolled out for users who log into the site from Australia last week, as the US implemented autoplay on video advertising.
However a spokeswoman for Facebook Australia said there is no news on when autoplay for ads will be launched in Australia.
Autoplay is currently only working for videos uploaded by users directly to the site, and they are silent unless the viewer clicks on them. And the autoplay does not currently apply to videos uploaded by brand pages, or via sites such as YouTube, which require viewers to click the play button to watch.
Facebook has labelled its new autoplay feature for advertising as ‘Premium Video Ads’ in the US, and will start consistently rolling into view during late April, reports AdWeek, with the aim of creating “a captive, but not interruptive experience.”
The 15 second videos will be viewed by a panel of around 500 viewers who will rate the content and videos will only be rolled out widely if they like them, Business Insider reports.
Facebook has been testing autoplay on videos shared by users in the US since September, and started to test video autoplay on ads in December.
