Facebook allows advertisers to buy in-stream ads

In a bid to give advertisers more flexibility and control to buy video ads to meet their target audience, Facebook has introduced an option to deliver ads on in-stream placements in videos on the social networking platform.

The move also gives advertisers an option to specify whether they would like their in-stream ads to appear on Facebook itself or across the range of websites and apps in Facebook's Audience Network ad network product, a Facebook blog post said late on Thursday.

The move comes after advertisers told Facebook that they wanted more control over where their ads would appear in News Feed or in-stream during a video.

The company last week launched "Watch" — a platform where it plans to surface original video series from a wide range of publishers and content creators.

On both Facebook and Audience Network, more than 70 percent in-stream video ads up to 15 seconds in length are watched to completion — most with sound on.

"Using mobile optimised creative that's 15 seconds or less, advertisers can capture consumer attention on mobile, increasing the likelihood that their video ads will be watched to completion," Facebook said.

"And with Facebook's people-based marketing, in-stream ads are targeted and delivered to the right people at the right time, achieving an average on-target rate of 89 percent," the company added.

Advertisers on Audience Network can deliver in-stream ads in pre-roll and mid-roll placements across select apps and websites.

Facebook said it will continue to give advertisers more flexibility and control over their ad placements.