Facebook has launched ads in their Stories feature, allowing brands to tap into a new fomat on the social platform
Facebook has been trialling the ad service since April and is now introducing it permanently into the app. Deliveroo, Pure Gym, TransferWise and KFC are some of the first to invest in the format, which currently holds an audience of 300 million.
This development follows Instagram's success since launching the ad format in 2017 on Instagram, and claims to offer the same services to Facebook advertisers as a full screen, immersive advertising environment.
“The use of Stories has risen sharply in 2018 as people embrace creating and consuming in the Stories format. Stories are full screen and they tend to be sound on. This creates a more immersive experience for the viewer and as an advertiser helps land your message faster,” Facebook ANZ managing director Will Easton says.
“People are already using Stories to engage with businesses so we are excited to launch ads in Stories for Australian brands today to take advantage of this shift in mobile activity.”
Facebook has reported that Stories posts are growing 15 times faster than posts to News Feed. In an Ipsos survey commissioned by Facebook IQ, 68% of Stories users said they use stories on at least three apps regularly, and 63% plan to use them more in the future.
The study has also shown that 62% of people said they became more interested in a brand after seeing it in a story, 38% said that after seeing a product in a story they talked to someone about it, and 34% said they went to a store to look for a product.
Facebook Stories offers an additional placement for advertising on the social platform along with Facebook's full suite of targeting and measuring capabilities to help improve reach, brand awareness, video views and traffic, with brands seeing results since the trial in April.
Since the trial period, iHeartRadio, Kettle Chips and KFC have seen brand lifts, with KFC UK reporting their Facebook Stories campaigns delivered a 33% lower cost per view and a 19% lower cost per impression.
Following Instagram's year of advertising in Stories, and a successful trial period, Facebook will now be making Ads in Stories available to brands and agencies globally.
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