Instant Articles, meet Instant Ads. Facebook wants to give advertisers an immersive way to reach people without making them leave the social network. So today it officially launched its ad Canvas for all advertisers. When users click a Facebook News Feed ad connected to Canvas, it opens a full-screen, rich media page inside of Facebook rather than forcing users to wait for a mobile website to load.
Last year Facebook started testing its ad Canvas, which is essentially Instant Articles for ads. Canvas removes constraints that low-power mobile sites put on content. Facebook Canvas allows interactive elements like animations, carousels, product catalogs, tilt-to-view images, and videos. Canvases appear linked to from News Feed ads on iOS and Android, and Facebook is evaluating how to expand this to other versions.
Brands can build Canvas ads with a self-serve tool. There’s no code required. Facebook’s design tool lets them just drag in images, GIFs, videos, and more, then set attributes and start showing their ad. Facebook ad exec Mark D’Arcy joked that “The only thing they can’t make, really, is excuses.”
Advertisers can sign up to use Canvas here. There’s no additional cost to build a canvas ad. Businesses just pay for the same News Feed ads as always, but get to build a better destination where they lead.
Facebook says the early tests of Canvas have shown users actually want to stick around and experience the ads. 53% of users that open a Canvas view at least half of it, and the average view time is a stunning 31 seconds. The top Canvas ads can see more than 70 seconds of view time per user.
In this Canvas campaign where Wendy’s deconstructed a cheeseburger and let you scroll, swipe, and see gifs of different ingredients saw 65 seconds of average view time. 2.9% of viewers even got all the way to the bottom and used the Wendy’s restaurant locator.
Storytelling through ads has been a big push for Facebook recently as it tries to squeeze more revenue per user out of its developing world markets. Last year it launched the Creative Accelerator to teach brands how to build ads for slow mobile networks and feature phones, and launched a special Slideshow ad format that mimics video but loads quickly.
By giving advertisers a richer format to market through, it can make sure viewers remember them. While lots of platforms are competing for ad dollars, none have innovated in the destination those ads lead to. And since Canvas doesn’t frustrate users with long load times or tempt them to leave Facebook, the social network can keep them rattling around and seeing more of its News Feed ads while they connect with friends.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/L7yZUiSMhic/