Facebook is the latest to latch onto the six-second video ad format.
According to Ad Age, Facebook CFO Sheryl Sandberg this week said that the company is working with some of its advertisers to develop the shorter ads.
Facebook still draws the overwhelming majority of its revenue from advertising. This week, Facebook reported quarterly earnings and boasted ad revenues of $9.16 billion, up 47% from the year-ago quarter.
Of that total, Facebook said that 87% comes from mobile advertising, and mobile is definitely an environment in which shorter six-second ad formats would be seen by consumers as a benefit.
Last year, YouTube announced its six-second bumper ads, designed to increase incremental reach and frequency on mobile devices in particular. The company sold the ads through AdWords auction on a CPM basis.
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“In early tests, Bumpers drove strong lift in upper funnel metrics like recall, awareness and consideration. We also see that Bumpers work well to drive incremental reach and frequency when paired with a TrueView campaign,” YouTube wrote in a blog post.
YouTube offered an update saying that in 70% of cases, the shorter ads offered a “significant” lift in awareness for brands advertising in the spots. YouTube defined that “significant” lift as about 9%.
Recently, The Fox Networks Group announced it will start using unskippable six-second ads.
According to Variety, the ads will first begin showing up on Fox’s streaming apps and then eventually on linear TV. Fox says it’s the first time a broadcaster has picked up this ad format.
For Facebook, the experimentation with shorter ads comes as the social media behemoth is preparing to officially kick off its own slate of original video programming. Facebook was initially reported to be planning a June debut for its TV-like content but Bloomberg now reports that the new shows will begin to appear in mid-August.