Facebook Exec Believes Auto-Play Video Ads Could Work Without Distracting Users

In December,  It was reported that Facebook was working on 15-second video ads that would automatically play in the news feed, potentially with audio. User backlash to this development was harsh, but Facebook is still tweaking the potential product. Chief Marketing Officer David Fischer said earlier this week at the Future of Media Conference at Stanford University that if the company were to roll out auto-play video ads, there’s a way that it could be done without greatly hurting the user experience.

When Fischer was asked about the video-play ads, and if there’s a way they could coexist with Facebook’s relatively motionless news feed. Fischer replied that Facebook has not yet released video ads because there hasn’t been a product with which the company has been comfortable:

“I believe there are ways we could do it. There are ways that could be destructive and distracting to the user experience. But there are ways that could potentially balance user experience with advertiser experience. We haven’t put a product out yet because we haven’t had one we’re comfortable with. But if we could, then we would do it.”

However, it appears evident that Facebook will likely roll out the auto-play video ads in an effort to dip into the TV ad revenue market.

While users were quite negative about the prospect of auto-play video ads, some experts want to wait and see before passing judgment.

Source: AllFacebook.com