Facebook to put ads amid live videos

Facebook Live videos will soon be interrupted by 20-second ads as the social media giant has decided to make money from all the live videos it shares on its network

Facebook’s Live feature will now include 20-second ads (AP File Photo)

Facebook Live videos will soon be interrupted by 20-second ads as the social media giant has decided to make money from all the live videos it shares on its network.

According to a report in ReCode on Thursday, Facebook would soon start putting ads in the middle of publishers' videos, much like TV commercials.

The new update was being tested with a small group of US publishers currently. The ad revenue would be split between these publishers and Facebook, with the latter getting 45 per cent of the share, it said.

"This is a big news for publishers, many of whom have trouble making money from videos they share to Facebook.Facebook lets publishers make money from branded content, or videos they create for marketers, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg has always been opposed to pre-roll ads, which are standard in the industry," the report said.

As a policy, the ads appearing in the middle of a live stream cannot run until a video has crossed 20 seconds. Also, the ads must be at least two minutes apart.

"Publishers need to be live for at least four minutes before they can take an ad break, and the stream must have at least 300 concurrent viewers. Each ad will last 20 seconds," a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.