Facebook Live is becoming an increasingly popular way for Facebook users to broadcast live feeds to the world, so it was only a matter of time until the social media giant tried to monetize these streams by occasionally interrupting them for commercial breaks.
Facebook confirmed Monday that it’s ready to explore an advertising angle for its months-old Facebook Live platform, Ad Age reports.
For now, the company says it is letting a small group of publishers insert the ads directly into their Live broadcasts.
The ads are allowed to appear five minutes into the broadcast and can last up to 15 seconds.
Some advertisers tell Ad Age that the videos would be drawn from among promoted video campaigns already running on the platform and publishers can control what categories of ads run during their broadcasts.
Additionally, advertisers involved in already running promotions are not required to allow their ads to roll during the Live broadcasts.
“We wanted to opt out immediately, because there was no reporting on how well it does and you don’t have control over where the commercial shows up,” one agency executive tells Ad Age.
As far as revenue being made from the program, publishers are not receiving a cut from the ads during the tests, but that could change in the future if Facebook chooses to expand ads in the platform.
Facebook launched the Live video streaming option earlier this year, and has so far attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers.
But to draw users to the platform, Facebook has shelled out $50 million to celebrities, media companies like BuzzFeed, and Internet celebrities for their videos.
For instance, BuzzFeed, which is one of the media companies to be paid for creating content, received as many as 807,000 simultaneous viewers in April when employees snapped rubber bands on a watermelon until it exploded, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Jon Paul Piques, who rose to popularity on Vine, is one of the internet stars working with Facebook Live. The WSJ reports he’s being paid $119,000 to use the streaming service at least five times a month through September.
Facebook Is Testing Mid-Roll Video Ads in Facebook Live [Ad Age]
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist
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