Facebook is making video ads load faster in developing countries

Video advertisements are much more effective, and therefore more valuable, than their static counterparts, but this comes at the cost of loading more slowly on weaker connections or low-end devices. Oddly enough, it’s in countries like Nigeria and the Philippines where these video ads are best received, despite the fact that these countries tend to have slow connections. With that in mind, Facebook has found a solution that allows advertisers to present video ads to users in these countries without running into the aforementioned issues: slideshows. 

People around the world connect to Facebook on different connection speeds and device types, and we’re committed to making everyone’s experience seamless and interactive no matter how or where they connect. Right now, as more video consumption moves online and to mobile, people around the world report wanting to engage with more video content on mobile, including ads. In fact, a recent report suggests that in countries like Nigeria and the Philippines where connectivity can be slow, expensive or both and where feature phones are prevalent, people are even more receptive to video ads. But video poses some challenges to advertisers, especially for small businesses and businesses reaching people in emerging and high-growth countries around the world, where connectivity and the prevalence of basic devices make it difficult for advertisers to deliver video to their entire audience. Additionally, the investment required to shoot and edit a video is often beyond the reach of advertising budgets. To make video ads easier to create and possible to watch on every device and connection speed, today we’re launching slideshow, a new type of lightweight video ad created from a series of still images. Slideshow is easy for advertisers to use and engaging for people. Here are the details.