Facebook’s Mid-Roll Ads: Revenue Sharing with Publishers

Facebook’s video service is ready to take the next step as industry sources have reportedly told Recode that the social media service will begin testing a new "mid-roll" ad format for videos posted on Facebook.

Execution-wise, Facebook’s "mid-roll" ad format would allow video publishers to insert ads into their video clips that are at least 90 seconds long. On top of that, the ads would only trigger once the viewer has sat through 20 seconds of said video.

Prior to the implementation of the "mid-roll" ad trial, Facebook registers a video view as long as a user watches a video for at least three seconds. Considering the fact that Facebook videos are automatically played when it appears on the News Feed, this means that the video view count could be artificially inflated.

With this new system in place, video creators can now use Facebook’s very own mechanics to game the ad system. This would force video publishers to come up with videos of decent length that are interesting enough to get the viewer’s attention, instead of relying on numerous short-length videos to maximize profits instead.

As for the payout, Facebook will be following a model that is similar to YouTube. The company will sell the ads and share 55% of the revenue generated with video publishers.

For those aspiring video creators who are looking to use Facebook as a money making platform, you might want to rethink your approach, as the company will be limiting the ad recognized video publishers only. Simply put, amateur video makers won’t be able to access Facebook’s ad system, which may be a good or bad thing depending on whether or not you’re a creator.

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