Facebook has been adamant about showing advertisements within its video content. By baking 15-second adverts into videos that are at least 90 seconds long, Facebook plans to monetize video content on its website.
This shows a lack of innovation on Facebook’s part. It shows that they’re not willing to (or have failed to) make any progress with their business model. It also goes against Facebook’s message of loving their users and wanting to improve the Facebook experience for them.
When it comes to innovative changes, many people dislike the idea of interruptions–and rightfully so. Interruptions stop you from watching the content you want and it can break the immersion and enjoyment of watching a video. More people are willing to pay in order to remove advertisements, but few platforms have yet to take advantage of this.
Ad blockers have become commonplace as a result of this. No one wants to have their content interrupted by a 15-second long advertisement, especially if the video itself is only 90 seconds long. It’s somewhat understandable for longer videos, but when close to 17% of a video is taken up by advertising, it can make people question just how acceptable these practices are.
People are now more than willing to pay to remove advertisements from the content they watch. For instance, the success of Netflix and Amazon Video show just how important it has become for users to access the content they want without interruption. Even YouTube attempted to do the same thing in the past with a premium subscription that not only offered ad-free viewing, but also a collection of exclusive content. While it ultimately failed due to the lack of real options and incentive (especially when one could achieve the same thing using an ad blocker) it goes to show that people are willing to shell out money as long as they have good reason to do so.
Ad relevance will always be a problem for advertisers. However, with Facebook’s reach and ability to collect information on its users, it doesn’t make sense that Facebook isn´t able to display relevant advertisements on its videos.
For example, if a user recently liked a page related to sports, then perhaps the advertisement shown could be related to said sport. Alternatively, if a user’s friend has a birthday is coming up, then maybe an advertisement for gifts could appear. With so much information at Facebook’s disposal, it should be incredibly easy to create tailored advertisements much like other social media platforms.
However, Facebook has failed to leverage their position and it doesn’t seem like they’re willing to think outside the box or at least, do something that hasn’t already been tried and failed. Facebook does have a fairly good track record of video traffic, but there are also many obvious failures that stand out.
Facebook has the power and reaches to create a unique video advertisement solution that breaks the mold. Video advertisements can be engaging and interesting but, sadly, their potential has yet to be seen. Despite being in such a brilliant position to create a unique solution to an old problem, Facebook seems to be regressing by focusing too much on increasing revenue to make a quick buck instead of focusing on improving the user experience.
To conclude, Facebook has an opportunity to reshape the way video advertisements are viewed, but instead of creating innovative solutions that change the industry, they’re using old methods that are forcing people to use ad blockers just to avoid irrelevant and annoying advertisements even in short videos. Facebook can shake the industry and pave a new road for video advertising, so let’s hope that they do something in the future to help reduce the usage of ad blockers and change the public’s perception of video advertising.
At Bright Vessel, we can help you use ad blockers so you do not have to deal with Facebook´s videos which might not be interesting for you or your visitors. Contact us for more details and assessment on this matter; we will improve your Facebook page.
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