Facebook to show ads in videos, share profits with publishers

Facebook will begin showing ads in the middle of its videos, with publishers set to get a majority cut of the revenue.

The social media giant will give video publishers the opportunity to show ads in their videos, and will give users a 55 percent cut of all sales, industry sources report.

The new revenue stream is split in the same ratio as YouTube, making this the latest Facebook development that appears to draw inspiration from other tech companies.

According to Marketing Land, Facebook’s video ads will be 15 seconds long. The company has already started emailing advertisers about the new opportunity.

“Pre-roll” ads have reportedly been banned from playing before the video begins by CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook has not made an official announcement on the new ads, but ReCode reports that Facebook VP Dan Rose told Poynter that he expected to discuss expanding mid-roll ads that Facebook has been trying “early next year.”

The company has already tested ads in Live broadcasts, and now it will do the same for videos that aren’t streamed live.

The company came under fire last year after it was revealed that it had been miscalculating and inflating video metrics to advertisers.