How Consumer Insights Inform Facebook Video Solutions

The way people watch video is changing fast. According to a new Facebook IQ survey spanning 10 countries, more than 1 in 3 people say smartphones are the device they use most¹ to watch online video. And of this group, 67% say they use smartphones to watch online video for more than an hour per day.²

Facebook Director of Product Maria Smith and her team are responsible for keeping pace with this evolving behavior. Smith, who oversees mobile video solutions development, stays close to the latest trends to design products that meet the needs of both marketers and consumers.

Facebook IQ sat down with Smith to discuss how consumer insights shape Facebook's suite of mobile video ad products. We also explored a few strategies marketers can use to boost the effectiveness of their mobile video content.

Facebook IQ: Our research shows that people are motivated to watch mobile video because it’s convenient, creates a sense of community and feels personally relevant and engaging.³ How do you ensure that Facebook video solutions also deliver this experience?

Smith: It’s important to us that our mobile video solutions offer the same elements that make organic mobile video so compelling. We know that people prefer shorter ads and consume content 41% faster on mobile News Feed than on desktop News Feed,⁴ so all of our video ad solutions are designed to be watched quickly. Next, to create personal relevance, we offer advertisers an advanced set of targeting options so that they can get their content in front of the people most likely to be interested. And to facilitate a sense of community and engagement, we make sure our solutions are interactive and shareable.

Facebook IQ: We’ve found that people watch mobile video anytime, anywhere — including at home. In fact, 85% of people surveyed in the US and Canada say they watch Facebook mobile video when at home.³ Did this surprise you?

Smith: No, it didn’t surprise me, because it reflects my own behavior. I watch short videos throughout the day when I’m on the go and have free time. When I see longer ones that look interesting, I save them to watch later. The last time I watched a mobile video, I was in bed and wanted to decompress before going to sleep. I didn’t want to go downstairs and turn on the TV, because it could wake up my kids. So I went to Facebook and watched a few videos — a neuroscience TED talk that a friend shared with me, and some entertaining clips from a late-night TV show.

Facebook IQ: How do you account for the wide range of ways people consume mobile video when building ads?

Smith: Our remit is to build a set of personalized, interactive and engaging video advertising solutions that reach people across the consumption spectrum. For instance, when people are scrolling through their feeds during a spare moment, they’re more likely to be receptive to short, snackable ads, so we created in-feed video ads that can be as short as a few seconds. On the other hand, when people are intentionally watching longer videos in more relaxed settings, they’re more likely to be more open to longer messages, so we built in-stream video ads that can be as long as 15 seconds. For those moments in-between, when people are on the go but want a more interactive experience, we created Collection and Canvas.

Facebook IQ: Marketers are often eager to know more about the relationship between mobile video and TV, so this past summer we studied 13 UK campaigns to understand the impact of combining Facebook mobile video ads with TV ads. We found that exposure to TV ads alone resulted in an 8% increase in likelihood to purchase, and exposure to Facebook mobile video ads alone resulted in a lift of 13%. Kantar Worldpanel expected that when people were exposed to ads on both platforms, their purchase intent would increase by 22%, but in reality, it increased by 29%. In other words, the performance of Facebook video ads combined with TV ads exceeded the uplift prediction by 1.3x.⁵ It’s clear that combining TV ads with Facebook video ads can be effective — are there any specific cross-platform approaches you recommend?

Smith: There are three main strategies we’ve seen marketers use when it comes to complementing a TV buy with Facebook mobile video ads. First, advertisers use Facebook video ads to gain incremental reach of audiences that are harder to find or more expensive on TV, such as cord cutters, light TV viewers and Millennials. Second, they use them to help prime their audience for TV ads or to reinforce the brand messaging they share on TV. Finally, they use them to help deepen consideration and drive sales after generating awareness with TV campaigns.