Facebook Video Ads Change

Happy Valentine's Day to Facebook users?  In a new move, Facebook has decided to change the way video content is played on your phone - previously, the videos would play automatically and you would tap the video to hear sound.  Facebook states that is has tested videos playing with the sound on in News Feed and has been hearing positive feedback.  Now, they will be showing videos with sound that fades in and out as you scroll through videos in News Feed.

If your phone is set to silent, you won't hear anything.  Also - you can disable the feature through a "Settings" option also.

Also - vertical video has been changed to appear better on mobile devices and it is also possible to watch a video picture-in-picture at the corner of your screen while you scroll around.

What does this mean? Advertisers, such as Unilever and its agency GroupM, which only buy video ads with the sound on will be more interested in advertising on Facebook videos.

Snapchat has noted that 2/3 of the videos in its app are watched with the sound on, which plays videos with the sound on by default.  Facebook found similar results in its own study: 70% of the time, the viewers left the sound on, including when ads played.