Social media network Facebook is said to be testing mid-roll adverts for videos on its platform. This will allow advertisers to insert adverts into videos to make money.
The new business model will allegedly be similar to online video giant YouTube's offering, which sees the company sell advertisements and share revenue with those who publish the videos, giving them 55% of the sales.
Recode reported that inside sources have said video publishers will be able to insert these adverts after 20 seconds of video, and that the whole video has to be at least 90 seconds long to qualify. This means if users watch a video for more than 20 seconds on the platform, the video could cut to an ad - similar to how television broadcasting works.
Facebook has not yet commented. However, Facebook VP Dan Rose told Poynter last year the company is experimenting with a new mid-roll ad format, "ad break", which will debut in live videos and eventually expand to other types of native video.
If these ad breaks are successful, it will be the first time video publishers will have a chance to make money off their content on the platform.
Ad breaks over pre-roll
Last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the platform would never introduce forced pre-roll adverts that rival YouTube makes use of.
He said at the time: "We don't need to do pre-roll because our model is not one where you come to Facebook to watch one piece of content; you come to look at a feed."
The social network relies on users being captivated by video content within a few seconds of it auto-playing in their newsfeeds, pausing their scrolling, and watching the whole video. This would not happen if an advert played first and users had to wait three seconds before skipping it.
Zuckerberg also said last year Facebook plans to become video-first in the coming years.
"Ten years ago, most of what we shared and consumed online was text. Now it is photos, and soon, most of it will be video. We see a world that is video-first, with video at the heart of all of our apps and services," he said.
Facebook has been pursuing a large piece of the online video pie for a few years now. Last year, it was reported Facebook users were watching over 100 million hours of video per day.
In 2016, Facebook introduced a dedicated 'searchable' place for video on the platform. A video icon now appears at the bottom of the mobile app. Tapping on this icon takes users to a personalised video stream, like that of the YouTube home screen.
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