Your Facebook News Feed might soon be stuffed with obnoxious TV-style ads. According to sources familiar with the social network's plans, Zuckerberg wants to "shake up" the ad industry, which is typically dominated by traditional television, by giving brands a bustling platform to hock their wares. Facebook currently has over 1 billion members, which is quite a few eyeballs to feed—that kind of potential awareness could cost advertisers up to $2.5 million a day for an ad that lasts just 15-seconds.
Not only do Facebook addicts check their feed constantly throughout the day, but they're typically most active during primetime events. Facebook is the type of platform that has an unfathomably large reach, so ads could potentially reach someone who might not have been watching TV in the first place. According to recent data, about 60 percent of Facebook members use the site daily, highlighting just how active people are.
Brands already have the ability to blast videos into your News Feed, though you have to actually like that company for it to show up. This new initiative would put a video directly into a user's feed whether they want it there or not. People familiar with Facebook's plans claim ads will initially be targeted at users based on age and gender, and run on a full-day basis. If you're going to part with upwards of $2 million for 24 hours of run-time, it better be worth it.
Facebook execs are trying to ensure the new ads don't break the newsfeed experience for users. Once everything is fine-tuned, expect to see 15-second product blasts sandwiched between status updates from friends and family. Because who cares about actually socializing on the social network? It's now a place to get bludgeoned by pesky TV-style ads, whether you're actually engaged in watching television or not.
