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Facebook rumored to bring video ads to your News Feed in the first half of 2013

Facebook rumored to bring video ads to your News Feed in the first half of 2013

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Facebook is reportedly planning to bring full video ads to users' News Feed sometime in the first half of 2013. According to a report by AdAge, multiple advertising industry executives say this new advertising platform will be Facebook's largest attempt to capture the major TV ad budgets. While things aren't set in stone yet, the core plan is to sell targeted video ads in users' News Feed on both the web and on mobile apps. Notably, Facebook is apparently planning to cap these ads at 15 seconds, a move that could cause some difficulties with the aforementioned TV advertisers who generally don't want to cut their ads down from the standard 30 second run time.

If these plans come to pass, Facebook's video ads could be quite obtrusive — it sounds like they could start playing automatically and also widen from beyond the News Feed view and encompass real estate in both the left- and right-hand columns, a change sure to frustrate users. Facebook has also made a point to feature the mobile ads in meetings with potential clients, a nod to how important the platform is to the company. We recently heard about Facebook testing some video ads, so this news isn't a major surprise — but it certainly could be a controversial change if the latest reports are accurate.