Video Ads: Testing What Works for Mobile Feed

Each day on average 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook.¹ And it’s estimated that mobile video will account for 75% of total mobile data traffic by 2020.² As people watch more video on mobile devices, advertisers have a huge opportunity to use video to connect with their audience where they are spending their time: on mobile and in feed. But while advertisers consider investing more of their video advertising dollars into mobile, many are curious about the right way to build video creative for the small screen.

Earlier this year we shared some tips for video creative based on tests we ran. We’ve continued testing and learning since then, and today we’re sharing new insights and examples that add to our library of learnings about how advertisers can succeed with video in the mobile-feed environment. We are also introducing new features to make it easy for advertisers to plan and purchase ads on Facebook in ways that align to how they have traditionally bought television ads.

With more demand than ever for people’s attention across screens, the opportunity for short-form creative is growing, and not just on mobile. Between 2010 and 2015, 15-second television ads grew 3.4% year over year, while 60- and 120-second spots declined.³ So advertisers want to understand the right way to build short-form stories that resonate.

The best way to ensure video creative works in the mobile-feed environment is to build with mobile in mind from the start. When you don’t have the opportunity to start from scratch on mobile video assets, cutting, editing and reworking long-form video ads can be a fast and effective way to create video ads for the mobile-feed. In early 2016, we tested this process on television creative with a few partners by making small changes to their television ads to see if the tweaked ads would connect better with their targeted audience on mobile. Then we ran their original television ad and the optimized version on Facebook and compared the performance of the two ads.

Here are some early successful examples of video creative that we reworked for mobile feed. We are continuing to experiment and encourage advertisers to do the same, so they can learn which video assets are good candidates for optimization and which tactics can drive results.

The videos shown below play without sound, as they would in News Feed.

We worked with Finish on its award-winning television ad by Wieden+Kennedy that told the story of how dishes are with us at every occasion in life. To tell this story on mobile, we pared down the ad’s many vignettes to a single story, started with an engaging image of a smiling couple and moved the brand mention 25 seconds earlier. The mobile-optimized ad saw a 7-point increase in ad recall, a 68% increase in the number of 3-second views and a 136% increase in 10-second views, compared to the television ad that ran on Facebook.

Finish’s original television ad:

Finish’s mobile feed ad:

With a shared vision for experimentation and learning, we also partnered with BBDO to apply these simple and fast adjustments to select client’s existing television creative to optimize it for the mobile feed.

Wells Fargo’s television commercial by BBDO San Francisco explained how easy it is to replace your debit card. To make it effective for the mobile-feed environment, we shortened the video, changed the aspect ratio to square to increase visibility in the feed environment, added text to convey the message without sound and moved the initial brand mention earlier. Doing so resulted in a 3-point increase in ad recall, 2X more impressions who reached the Wells Fargo branding section of the video and an 8-point increase in message association, compared with 5.7 points for the television commercial.

Wells Fargo’s original television ad:

Wells Fargo’s mobile feed ad:

Wrigley’s “Life happens in 5” television ad by Energy BBDO Chicago was about trying new things. To optimize their ad for mobile feed, we cut the video from 15 seconds to 9 seconds, added visual messaging on the video title card and focused more on the count from one to five that’s featured in the story. While both the television commercial and the mobile-optimized ad performed well on Facebook, compared to the television ad, the optimized video saw an 8-point increase in ad recall and a 7X increase in impressions who got to the part of the video that featured the “trying new things” message.

Wrigley’s television ad:

Wrigley’s mobile feed ad:

“At BBDO, we are committed to understanding the most creatively effective ways to tell our client’s stories when using video on any given platform. We recognize that context is key. So in our latest experiment, we partnered with Facebook to see how we might be able to rework existing ads for mobile newsfeed environments. What we discovered is that there are ways to optimize existing assets to deliver increases in ad recall and message association. These learnings have reinforced our belief about the importance and opportunity of building for the medium and considering these options from the start.” - Julian Cole, Head of Communications Planning, BBDO New York

In light of these test results—in combination with new research from Facebook IQ on designing effective video ads for the mobile feed—we’ve made some updates to our mobile video creative considerations. We’ve added a new tip on framing and revised our suggestion on experimentation to encourage advertisers to play more as they explore storytelling through video in mobile feed. Here are our updated video creative considerations:

Creative is an important part of optimizing ads for the mobile-feed environment, but it’s not the only consideration. To make planning and purchasing mobile video ads across channels easier, today we’re also introducing new TRP Buying features.

In September, we announced TRP Buying, so advertisers could extend existing television campaigns to Facebook using a familiar currency: target rating points, or TRPs. Starting today advertisers are now able to use US Nielsen designated market areas (DMAs) through TRP Buying for Facebook and Instagram ads, so they can match the target market they’re reaching on Facebook to the ones they’re buying on television. Additionally, advertisers are also now able to purchase day-parts, which are parts of the day during which advertisers want their ads to be shown. Day-parts are available in four-hour blocks (or greater) and help advertisers reach people at the time when their message will resonate most.

These test results and new features enable advertisers to build creative that works in mobile feed and plan and purchase the campaigns that will bring their videos to life. We’ll continue sharing insights, examples and new features for video ads as we continue testing and learning.