Dive Brief:
- Facebook’s Anthology program, which pairs brands with media partners for sponsored video content, got off to a slow start after its launch last April due to pricing issues.
- After making changes to the pricing model, Anthology recently added seven new publisher partners, according to Ad Age.
- The new partners include Brit & Co, Complex Media, Conde Nast, Discovery Communications, NowThis, PopSugar and Refinery29.
Dive Insight:
"Facebook is a great platform for video, and applying their audience insights and data to optimize creative is a great idea," David Lang, chief content officer at Mindshare North America and president of Mindshare Content & Entertainment, told Ad Age.
The road to Anthology’s new traction among brands was a bit tricky to say the least. Not only did the program launch with what was seen as an exorbitant “entry fee” of $2 million as a minimum spending requirement, it also had a two-tiered billing system where marketers were paying Anthology publisher partners for creating the video content and then paying Facebook to run the ads. This system made it difficult for marketers and agencies to track ROI on campaign performance, and some balked at the extra effort imposed on the ad unit.
Facebook has since lowered the entry fee to $1 million, and created an option for a single bill for an Anthology ad.
Overall the ad unit should be successful as it pairs the popular sponsored content ad format with Facebook’s prodigious video capability. According to Facebook, its users watch more than 100 million hours of video each day.
The social network doesn't break out figures for video or mobile in its earnings, but when the company reported quarterly earnings last month, COO Sheryl Sandberg told Re/code, "We do think that eyeballs are shifting, not just from TV but from a lot of other formats, to mobile. And we are positioned very well to not just participate but to lead that shift."