Facebook will gradually introduce 15-second video ads that auto play in News Feed to its 1.23 billion members following a three-month test of the product, the company said Thursday.
The new ads, called "Premium Video Ads," are modeled after television spots and are meant to give advertisers with deep pockets -- ads reportedly cost anywhere from $1 million to $2.5 million per day -- access to the broadest swath of Facebook users at specific intervals during the day.
Video ads play without sound when they appear on the screen. Members can scroll past an ad, or they can tap an ad to expand the video into full-screen view and hear sound.
People can expect to begin seeing these new ads in their Web and mobile News Feed over the next few months, Facebook said. The company is currently working only with a small number of advertisers as it continues to monitor how members respond to the ads.
Unlike the other ads you find on Facebook, Premium Video Ads are being vetted for creative quality and "watchability" before they reach your feed. Facebook said it's working with a company called Ace Metrix to review the premium spots before they go live on the social network.
The effort is part of Facebook's mission to get advertising's biggest spenders to view its network as a better and more versatile medium than television for reaching target audiences.