Facebook video ads coming soon

Facebook have again been playing with the ‘News Feed’ again, no it’s not another layout or tweak to the user interface this time it’s Video advertising. Facebook first announced they were testing video advertisements late last year and rolled out a beta version of their video ad platform to advertisers in December of last year.

Before anybody gets worried about noisy adverts playing in their news feeds there is a silver lining in that video adverts will auto-play however there will not be any sound unless the user actually clicks on the advertisement.

Advertisements will be sold much in the same way that television adverts are sold and will be based on Targeted Gross Rating Points aimed to target a specific audience over a short period of time. Similarly the adverts will also be priced much like a television advert would be with prices ranging from $1 million to $2.5 million initially on launch. Judging from that we can assume that these video ads will be targeted at large corporations rather than small to medium businesses.

Facebook will be using Nielson and Ace Metrix to track and measure the video ads and work with advertisers to review the quality and proposed engagement level of each ad before it becomes available on Facebook.

So when will these adverts start to appear in your news feed? Facebook announced in a blog post that we should be seeing these video advertisements in the next few months. If you feel you really don’t want these adverts or they are too obtrusive it’s likely that popular adblockers will be updated in order to hide these from your news feed.

How do you feel about video ads in your news feed? Do you think they will be obtrusive? or will we just learn to ignore them like we have with other adverts. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Apple starts running new iPad mini ads showcasing iBooks and iPhoto

Apple has begun running two new television commercials for the iPad mini. The new ads build out a series that started with Apple’s iPad mini Garageband ad; a commercial that demonstrates the iPad mini’s equal software capabilities to the full-sized iPad. The new ads focus on iBooks and iPhoto. The first ad shows the iBooks application and reading on the iPad mini, and the second ad shows the iPad mini’s photo viewing capabilities and advanced editing functions via the iPhoto App Store app. The two ads are viewable after the break:

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Samsung Running an iPhone 5 Attack Ad in Newspapers on Sunday

CNet and Businessinsider have published a new print ad that Samsung will be running in national newspapers tomorrow.

And so Samsung is greeting the arrival of the iPhone 5 with an ad that will run tomorrow in certain national and local newspapers (how modern). It is not a flattering ad. It suggests that the iPhone 5 isn't even good enough to be, well, a copy of the Galaxy S3.

The ad is titled "It doesn't take a genius." which serves as a dig against Apple Retail's genius bars. The rest of the ad shows the iPhone 5 alongside the Samsung Galaxy S III and lists a number of system specifications as well as features. The list is obviously heavily weighted towards Samsung where many of their software features are preferentially listed. At the end is the line "The Next Big Thing Is Already Here". 

Apple and Samsung have been competing head to head in the smartphone market and in the courtroom. Apple won a massive victory in their U.S. patent trial against Samsung with a $1.05 billion verdict. 

[Source: MacRumors]

Entrepreneur: How I made $10K in one day with Facebook Ads

As a counterpoint to the company that claimed its Facebook Ads didn't work because most clicks came from bots, entrepreneur Brendan Irvine-Broque decided to tell the story of how he used the social network's advertising platform to make five figures in one day.

After deciding to get rid of a record collection consisting of 6,000 vinyl records, Irvine-Broque created a Facebook Event titled "MASSIVE Vinyl Sale in the East Bay!" He then spent $150 to promote it using Facebook Ads, which simply said "6000 Vinyl Records, $3 Each" and pointed to the event. Here's the description in full (sans address):

I used to be a record dealer, specializing in rare and private press LPs and 45s, and have thousands of vinyl records sitting in storage, many of which I've never even seen. It's time to let go of them, and now that it's warm outside, I figured it'd be a good time to setup some tables outside and have folks over to dig through. There are well over 6000 records, including tons of private press of all genres, obscure 12-inch singles, etc. Everything is $3 each, save for 1-2 boxes of heavily discounted rarities. I'll have snacks and drinks, feel free to bring your own too. Lots of good food just up the street in case you get hungry. Hope to see you there!

[Source: cnet - Click to read the full story]