Dreaded 'Light Box' Video Ad
Facebook told Ad Age that it is going to introduce forced auto-play video ads in people's feeds by April. The video length will be equivalent to standard television :15s.
Just in case the user isn't willing to stop what they're doing and deign to look upon these video ads, Facebook intends to have the ads - first appearing in the users' news feeds - expand out over the left and right rails, becoming unavoidable.
Facebook, often criticized for various policy and interface decisions it makes, doesn't appear to be overly concerned about the intrusiveness of the new format. In fact, they are still talking internally about whether the video ads will start off with audio on - a practice generally frowned upon by other networks and publishers.
Marketing Land also notes that the forced viewing of video may prove especially unpopular to mobile users who are more and more subject to bandwidth fees on their wireless devices.
