Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) Places Video Ads On Main Page Feed

Just a few hours ago social media mastodon Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) announced that it’s launching video advertisements in users’ news feeds. The new feature will place auto-playing video ads into people’s main Facebook feed. This also applies to using the service on mobile devices.

In order to ease any mobile data plan concerns, the announcement makes it clear that mobile users will have the ad videos pre-downloaded, while they’re connected to wi-fi.

Facebook has been testing this feature since September and the outcome of those tests is a ‘better experience for people’, according to the news release.

The decision for auto-playing video ads plonked directly into the news feed, despite their somewhat non-intrusive nature (video initially plays without sound), may turn out to be a controversial one. Facebook specifically stated they would not disclose the pricing of the new ads. Still, an estimation dating back to summer 2013 – the original intended launch point for the ads before they were delayed for further testing – pegged Facebook’s potential 2014 revenue from such ads at $1 billion.

Whether this number is going to come to fruition depends on how users react to the new ad delivery system and the extent to which Facebook manages to deliver relevant content to individuals. FB shares are currently trading 1.95% up in the early session, at $54.86 per share.