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Facebook Will Introduce Ads As Videos Start Playing (recode.net)

Posted by BeauHD on from the unwanted-features dept.

Facebook is going to start running pre-roll ads on its "Watch" videos next year. While you won't see your News Feed full of video ads, you will start to see pre-rolls, which will run for up to six seconds, on videos in Facebook's "Watch" hub. Recode reports: Facebook launched its Watch hub earlier this year, using "mid-roll" ads (another ad format Facebook tried to avoid for a long time). The fact that they have added pre-rolls -- the format used around the web and the one advertisers are most comfortable with -- should be read as an admission that the mid-roll ads aren't generating significant revenue for Facebook or the publishers putting video into Watch. Speaking of those mid-roll ads: Facebook now says they won't appear until later in videos and they'll only run on longer videos. It says the ads (it calls them "ad breaks") can't run until a minute into a video, and they can only run if the video is at least three minutes long. At first, the ads could run after 20 seconds and on videos as short as 90 seconds.

72 comments

  1. Face what? by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One more reason to continue to avoid Zucker-hell

    1. Re:Face what? by jessepdx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I deleted FB a while ago, I found it's easier to remain friends with friends when i don't read their FB posts.

    2. Re:Face what? by slazzy · · Score: 3, Funny

      He's welcome in my hosts file, listed as 127.0.0.1

      --
      Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    3. Re: Face what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use lynx in console then

    4. Re:Face what? by gnick · · Score: 2

      ...I found it's easier to remain friends with friends when i don't read their FB posts.

      I find that I disagree with my friends in areas that might not have come up in normal conversation, but typically my friends are reasonable people and we can discuss our differences of opinion. My father and I disagree strongly on several topics, but we're still friends. There are exceptions, e.g. the DJT fanatics and the anti-vaccine cultists (in my circles of friends, that's the same two people). It is possible to have intelligent conversations on FB with differing, valid points of view. Your experience on FB depends entirely on the friends you pick and the way you relate to them. FB is what you make of it; being able to pick and choose who participates in a conversation steers it differently than when anyone can post. I don't have the problem with trolls in my FB conversations that exists here.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    5. Re:Face what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FB is for lame lonely idiots

    6. Re:Face what? by torkus · · Score: 1

      but but but...then who will know when autie mae bakes a cake for your birthday and the cat knocks it off the table before the icing is put on and everyone is sooooo relieved but also sad there was no cake?

      Also, how will SJWs be able to educate you on how everyone is doing everything wrong, always?

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    7. Re:Face what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I deleted FB a while ago

      Shit! You got me excited there for a minute, but it turns out I can still ping it.

    8. Re:Face what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Originally designed for Harvard students to mingle with one another, now a hotbed for Russian hax0r l33t, fake news, lolcats video clips, and now ads before videos. How to avoid getting cabin fever on that space trip to Mars is up next.

  2. Facebook! Get OUT OF MY HEAD! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is JUST WHAT I WANTED! THIS truly is the era of all that is, and will be, Trump.

    1. Re: Facebook! Get OUT OF MY HEAD! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You just wait for rapture quakes fires tsunamis plague. Oh that's LA

  3. A great place for ads ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... since no one uses Facebook any more.

  4. this /. story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is a waste of pixels

  5. Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Adver by sexconker · · Score: 2

    The majority of the internet economy is driven by ads. I love watching it burn to the ground.

  6. Reason number.... by Zurkeyon3733 · · Score: 1

    100000000001 Not to use, browse, or be caught DEAD on Flakebook...

    1. Re:Reason number.... by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Anyone else have to count the sets of zeros?

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:Reason number.... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Um, nope. Just you.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    3. Re:Reason number.... by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      Your nerd-shaming ways will be the end of you.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

  7. Well, Finally! by rmdingler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It says the ads (it calls them "ad breaks") can't run until a minute into a video, and they can only run if the video is at least three minutes long. At first, the ads could run after 20 seconds and on videos as short as 90 seconds.

    Nothing else for me, Santa... that's my whole Christmas list.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  8. wonderful idea by zlives · · Score: 2

    sign me up to this facepalm.

  9. Are they trying to make it even worse? by Arzaboa · · Score: 2

    I can't imagine why this is good for anything, or anyone, or who would want this. Didn't they just say they were going to try to not ruin the world any more than they have already contributed to doing so, with their "schtik" the other day?

    Who wants ad's in their forums anyhow? They should talk to SourceForge.

    --
    And then there was one...

    1. Re:Are they trying to make it even worse? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      talk to who?

    2. Re:Are they trying to make it even worse? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Skilled developers will work around this ad push into a users own computer.

      Browsers will show no ads.
      Social media will get reports users are watching every ad as they use social media.
      100% perfect playback of every ad by that user.

      They pretend they show ads to us and we pretend we watch ads.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re:Are they trying to make it even worse? by atrimtab · · Score: 1

      > Skilled developers will work around this ad push into a users own computer.

      You mean only until each and every webpage is encrypted and digitally signed and won't display if any content is altered by an end user via a blob of binary code in every web browser.

      The Internet is becoming just like Cable TV or (shudder) late 90s AOL.

      --
      Facebook is billions of individual "Skinner Boxes." And if you use it you are the pigeon!
    4. Re:Are they trying to make it even worse? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Some sort of white space layer to cover the video at the OS level?
      Have the OS do something to block the sound from the browser. No real world results from the browser playing the video social media forced onto the user thanks to the OS?
      Encryption can secure the way the page displays in the browser, the OS can keep the user safe from the results of the ad been forced into the browser.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    5. Re:Are they trying to make it even worse? by roc97007 · · Score: 1

      Browser proxy? The first browser fake-runs the whole thing, the second browser scrapes the first and only plays the part the user really wants to see?

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  10. Ad blockers will stop ad videos from playing by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    Social media gets nothing.
    The more you tighten your ads, the more users will slip through your networks.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  11. Usually I sell good advice by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This one is for free: Don't do it.

    There is no worse place for your ad than in front of some video someone wants to watch. Your ad could be the most topical ad ever, targeted perfectly for me and even about something I have been looking for for my whole life. And still my reaction to it would be negative. Why? Because it keeps me from getting what I want.

    Not just like the ads interrupting shows that you watch. They may be annoying, but at least you already got a bit of what you wanted. That's more like someone calling during dinner. Annoying, but you're still chewing, you're still tasting your food, you're still more or less satisfied while you get annoyed. No. This is interrupting and annoying you BEFORE you get what you want. That's more like someone who stops you right after you're done cooking, preparing to sit down to enjoy your meal, looking forward to it and already salivating in anticipation.

    This is the WORST kind of experience you could give someone. Your ad target already knows what he wants, thinks he is about to get it and this is exactly the moment you interrupt him.

    This person will do anything to get rid of your ad. And he will not care AT ALL what your ad is about. He will not watch it. He will use every second of the time he has to watch it to look for ways to end it so he finally gets what he actually wanted.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Usually I sell good advice by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Ads on TVs are as irritating and distracting too. But before DVRs and TiVO there was no way to skip them. And people put up with it. People will tolerate a lot of shit if there is no other way to get the content they want to watch at the price they are willing to pay

      Facebook probably spent tons of money doing focus group research to find how much shit they can heap up on their user ^H^H^H^H product.

      Remember the old joke,

      Thesis Guide: "What does the research sponsor think the incident rate would be?"

      PhD student: "About six percent".

      Thesis Guide: "Bear that in mind when you collect data".

      The focus group testing companies try to figure out what Facebook wants to hear, and they massage the data to suit. So the executives have some way to lie to themselves their rubes can be abused this much.

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    2. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Before DVRs there were video cassette recorders. I made use of said technology to time shift viewing of content on my terms and would frequently skip/fast forward through ads back in the day last century.

    3. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Chozabu · · Score: 2

      Wish this was true. Suspect enough people click on pre-video ads it (in the short term at least) seems worth it. I imagine youtube would have stopped this annoying practice otherwise.

    4. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      YouTube has stopped this annoying practice. At least on my computer.

      This is basically the main problem here. People go out of their way to get rid of those ads. We have seen it with conventional online advertising that has become so invasive and annoying that even people who wouldn't have bothered otherwise have now installed adblockers. There are people who put up with dozens of error messages and popups when they turn on their computer, who put up with browser windows the size of a stamp because search bars and other "free" gadgets litter it and people who put up with their computer running like molasses due to the load of trojans filling it, but they install adblockers.

      Can you imagine just how annoying something has to be for those people to get off their ass and actually start doing something?

      This is how annoying ads have become. And pre-video ads are the same as full screen popups: You are hopeful to see what you're wanting, yet get held up by something that keeps you from going there. This is actually annoying enough to make people install relevant blockers to get rid of it. Even people who would put up with pretty much anything don't accept something like this.

      The ad-well has been poisoned for conventional ads. Please don't ruin it for videos now, too.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:Usually I sell good advice by trawg · · Score: 1

      The reasons you cite are why ad dollars for video pre-rolls are so great. If you have a bunch of popular video content, you will make more money because companies pay way way more to get in front of people like that.

      But I think most people don't go very far to get rid of ads. My partner lives on Facebook and watches a lot of dumb videos (the source of several recent arguments and my inspiration for drastically scaling back my Facebook use); I am confident she would not bat an eye at a 2-5 second pre-roll ad.

      I disabled autoplaying videos in my browser and just rarely watch video. In the event there is a pre-roll ad I just close the window immediately - I think starting to stream and closing before the content will send interesting metrics to publishers. But again I think it will just be lost in the noise of the hordes of people whose endorphins are triggered by cat videos.

    6. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      In my experience, your partner is a minority.

      I work in security and am the go-to guy for all computer related ailments a friend might have. I have seen my fair share of computers that were SO overbloated with crapware, adware and malware that they barely still started. And usually, I get called at the point when the final straw breaks the camel's back, but no second sooner. I have removed more ad-, helper-, and search-bars than many people could name. Usually from the same machine.

      Yet these people, whose pain threshold is very obviously incredibly high, the very people that put up with an i7 browsing at P2 speeds while swapping like crazy because their browser is squeaking under the load of addons and browser bars that fill about twice the ram they have, these people have now started asking me whether and how to get rid of those video ads.

      These people put up with EVERYTHING that doesn't outright nuke their PC. And they are now starting to install video ad blockers.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      The way it is done now almost works... you watch a bit of the viral video and then a little ad interruption occurs. If the video starts as an ad, I would guess most people will just keep on scrolling.

    8. Re:Usually I sell good advice by dfm3 · · Score: 1

      I suspect that virtually all of the clicks on video ads are of the "trying to figure out where to click to make this crap go away" variety rather than "hmm, interesting ad, I'll forego the video I was about to watch so I can find out more about the product."

    9. Re:Usually I sell good advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't really mind the ads on youtube too much (don't get them on my PC of course, but do get them using Google home + Chromecast).

      I use it 99% of the time to watch a sequence of music videos and I only seem to get a short ad every 5 tracks or so. Time to stretch legs or feed cats or whatever.

      And yes, I know the 'Google home spies on you' stuff. Even if it records everything I say all it will get is:
      a) Me talking to cats
      b) Me swearing at TV
      c) Me speaking to Google home

      I live alone, and any visitors will be told about Google Home and I'll turn it off if they're bothered.

    10. Re:Usually I sell good advice by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1
      Yes, and vast majority of the public sat through irritating used commercials rather than mess with VCRs.

      99% of the VCRs never even got their clocks set. Blinking 12:00 has been the stock joke for decades.

      Comic: "...That blinking 12:00, you know what it tells you, you-are-dumb you-are-dumb ... that is what the blinking clock says. But... I don't mind. It is ok. It is true. I can't set the clock. But... you know what gets me? It starts blinking 01:00 during daylight savings time. Come on... "

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  12. In other news... by Z80a · · Score: 1

    Adblock plus/ublock usage spikes in 8000%

  13. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by Z80a · · Score: 1

    There is a reason why google is so big, which is well doing the exact opposite of what facebook is doing here.

  14. No problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just don't pay for the facebook ads when your isp gives you your fastlane bill.

    Facebook said that would happen if we lost NN. they wouldn't lie right?

  15. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    why do people always act like Facebook, Twitter & YouTube are government services and should bend to their whims? If you don't like it, don't use it.

  16. Glad I disabled videos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Video is my #1 hated thing

  17. facebook? by benjonson · · Score: 2

    slashdot users use facebook?

    --
    =-+
  18. now even the paraistes have fucking parasites by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Advertising killed the internet.

  19. You WILL see your feed full of video ads by omnichad · · Score: 1

    While you won't see your News Feed full of video ads

    As of the last few days, I'm getting this now. Any posted video in the feed plays for 2-3 seconds as you scroll to it and then goes straight to an ad. It keeps me from watching videos on Facebook, which is fine by me. Sometimes you just need an interruption to remind you that you weren't wanting to watch in the first place.

    They mention this thing called a "Watch" hub, and I've never seen this.

  20. Not enough revenue..yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because the ZukerBorg.. needs more fuel than currently available as they assimilate people, businesses world+dog and the Internet? They don't make enough money without another revenue stream? Our personal information has been indexed, annotated, cached, collated and sold to every bidder and thus we no longer are providing an "adequate" revenue stream to keep repairs on Mark's estate?

    #sigh #ZukerBorg #RumpleStiltskin #BridgesNotWalls

    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/mark-zuckerberg-wall-hawaii

  21. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No Google were cheeky fuckers, really cunning. They did not target their ads at you, they targeted them at the advertisers, convincing them to buy ad space.

    Want to know why those ads don't sell because youtube et al is much more like magazines rather than like TV. So imagine you are reading a magazine and flip to the next article, what they do is not offer an ad, they shove it in you face and demand, actually fucking demand you keep it there, "fuck you animal look at my ad, how dare you fucking look away scum". Now they expect that approach to sell you something, well, it doesn't is just pisses people off and they hate the product, not one forced ad has ever sold me anything what so ever, not a single one because fuck em. In a magazine the ad is offered for a split second you read or ignore it, on the internet oh fucking no, WATCH THE AD ANIMAL OR ELSE, seriously demand you watch the ad, insist you watch the ad, force you to watch the ad and then scream at you, and in the most idiotic fashion expect that ad to sell you anything what so ever. Of course that ad targeted at advertisers, feeding their delusions, expecting positive results from forcing ads on people, yep buys right into their ego and they spend big and blame lack of sales on other things, rather than shitty advertising practices.

    Ads, you have to let people choose, else you sell nothing. M$ was the worst at this showing full page ads, blocking content until the ad cycle ran down it's timer or as more often was the case, people just stopped going to MSM because dick heads ran the company, choked the chicken with their ad greed. Where is MSM now, Facebook is on the way out, people are starting to look for excuses to drop it.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  22. Go Facebook Go ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I stopped using Facebook years ago. This may well help to nudge more people to get rid of Facebook.
    So this measure has my full support.

  23. Free sites always eventually suck... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look at slashdot itself. Without a real source of income it eventually becomes just another place to sell ads. Slashdot is so bad half the stories are just advertisements themselves, or click bait tabloid articles full of ads.

  24. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The majority of the internet economy is driven by ads. I love watching it burn to the ground.

    Also, advertisers and marketers are the lowest form of life anyway.

  25. Time to start using Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This makes me want to log in to Facebook again in the next couple of months.
    Just to make sure all my ad blocking methods work on these videos.

  26. http://accedebigdataacademy.com/ by AccedeConsultancy · · Score: 1

    yes google is doing just the opposite facebook http://accedebigdataacademy.co...

  27. Time to short Facebook stock by jools33 · · Score: 1

    Time to short Facebook stock.

  28. Glad I don't "do" Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Every time I read such stuff I'm glad I avoid that goo like a plague. Facebook, Fakebook.

    Picking up a very old meme, "imagine there's Facebook and nobody visits them".

  29. Excellent: Cut it open for those golden eggs! by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    You have a hugely profitable business.

    What do you do?

    Screw over your customers for pennies.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  30. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Informative

    I tolerate and ignore the 5 second adds.

    The ones that demand I watch them before I can watch the video, I just go to a different video. Or mute the sound and switch to a different window. I *hate* them. I will not purchase anything due to those ads from people who advertise that way .

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  31. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 0

    But at least Google is providing useful services and doing research that goes beyond targeted ads. What is FB providing except a platform for fake news and narcissistic attention-seekers?

    --
    sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
  32. It's interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how greedy companies who want to eye/ear rape you with horrible unwanted content, invade your privacy AND commit forced data theft (Telemetry, scanning your phone, etc). But to inject ads before YOUR FRIENDS VIDEO? REALLY?! MOST companies use technology for pure evil plain and simple. Microsoft, Roomba, Facebook etc are all scum.

  33. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I tolerate and ignore the 5 second adds.

    The ones that demand I watch them before I can watch the video, I just go to a different video. Or mute the sound and switch to a different window. I *hate* them. I will not purchase anything due to those ads from people who advertise that way .

    Especially when the forced ad turns out to be longer than the damn video I was trying to watch!

  34. Don't care.... by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

    I'm not on facebook. I'm not an attention whore/drama queen.

  35. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by gnick · · Score: 1

    I will not purchase anything due to those ads from people who advertise that way .

    You'll try. We'll all try. The advertisers are hoping that their strategy will trump our reluctance. They just want us to recognize their brand and not remember why.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  36. Re:Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements Ad by torkus · · Score: 1

    Same.

    Besides addblock and similar, I've got my own mental filter. I just don't see adds for the most part. FB is rather insidious with them and how they insert them but it's also a big part of the reason I don't use FB much anymore.

    --
    You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
  37. Fesse Bouc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In France, we called it "fesse bouc" (same prononctiation as face book in english) wich means litteraly "buttock goat".
    Seems it's more and more enjoyable as the buttock goat ^^

  38. Re: Advertisements Advertisements Advertisements A by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I donâ(TM)t.

  39. Need a good adblocking game from the start. by Rexdude · · Score: 1

    I've been blocking ads for 20 years now, ever since I noticed that the banner ad would load first before the rest of the page had even started loading on a 28.8k dialup connection. It's multi-level for me now -

    • Hosts file - used this initially, now it's just AdAway on my rooted Android
    • AdMuncher, a commercial adblocker for Windows that blocks ads at the socket level, so even ads inside programs get filtered
    • After Firefox appeared, started using Adblock Plus, and now Ublock Origin. On Android I still use ABP.
    • Browser set to reject all cookies by default, except for sites that require you to login.
    --
    "..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."
  40. Eventually, greed wins by nightfire-unique · · Score: 1

    Every company that rises to prominence and then market domination eventually falls victim to the very same motivator that got them there.

    Circle of life, and all that. Still, it's sad to watch, until some other company is born from the ashes and the cycle begins anew.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
  41. For the best possible hosts file by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject & NEW APK Hosts File Engine 10++ 32/64-bit https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22APK+Hosts+File+Engine%22+and+%22start64%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/

    Ads/script/malware rob speed/security/privacy/bandwidth.

    Hosts add speed (via hardcodes/adblocks), security (vs. bad sites/malware/poisoned dns), reliability (vs. dns down), & anonymity (vs. dns requestlogs/trackers).

    Less power/cpu/ram + IO use vs. DNS/routers/addons/antivirus + less security bugs/complexity & faster vs. addons/routers/remote dns!

    Avoids DNSChangers in routers/IP settings & dns redirect (99++% of ISP DNS != patched vs. it) + DNS tracking & lighten DNS load & resolve faster via local RAM!

    * Via what u NATIVELY have in a FASTER kernelmode IP stack (does more w/ less).

    APK

    P.S. - Safe https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/e01211ca36aa02e923f20adee0a3c4f5d5187dc65bdf1c997b3da3c2b0745425/analysis/1433430542/ (self checking vs. infection of it built-in)