If you’re a Facebook ads user you may have noticed that Facebook has been pushing its video ads quite hard in recent months. In fact, the entire platform has been drifting more and more towards video for some time now.

There’s a good reason for that; Facebook, like Google, is concerned primarily with providing its users with the best possible experience on their platform.

All other considerations, such as growing the user base and increasing ad revenue, will duly follow if they get the experience factor right – and Facebook has decided that video is the experience its users deserve.

The numbers behind the rise of video on Facebook are quite mind-boggling:

Facebook now receives 8 billion video views per day, with over 100 million hours of Facebook video being watched every day.

Crucially for marketers, Facebook’s own research demonstrates conclusively that many users find video content more absorbing and more engaging than regular static content.

A recent study by Facebook IQ found that people spend 5x longer looking at video content than static content on FB and Instagram.

Elsewhere, research by Adobe found that shoppers that watch videos are 1.8 times more likely to purchase than non-viewers.

Our Facebook Ad Format Comparison Test Results

With all the wealth of evidence on the popularity of Facebook video and the increased efficacy of Facebook video ads stacking up, we decided to run a test campaign for an e-commerce client in the pet industry.

Each month we run a custom audience campaign advertising that month’s special offers.

While ROI is often four figures, we have nevertheless seen diminishing returns over a period of time running static image ads in the campaign. So we created a simple gif animation, with the products on offer rotating in a slideshow, and a small amount of text providing extra details.

Similar to this example:

 

The results were quite simply phenomenal. For half the ad spend of the static ads, the video campaign generated almost three times as many conversions – an increase of 196%.

For an ad spend of £199.95, the image campaign had generated 28 conversions at a cost per conversion of £7.14.

The video ad, meanwhile, recorded 83 conversions for a spend of just £102.99 – a cost per conversion of just £1.24!

In every single measure, the video campaign had knocked the static image campaign out of the park.

Clicks were up by 59%, reach 34%, CTR (click through rate) by 61%.

The difference in the Return On Ad Spend (ROAS) was the most impressive.

For its £199.95 ad spend the image campaign had generated £1,789.52 – a ROAS of 895%, £8.95 returned for every £1 spent.

Not bad, by any means, but nothing compared to the numbers posted by the video campaign.

For £102.99, this simple gif had recorded £5,425.57 in revenue – a ROAS of a massive 5,268%, that’s £52.68 for every £1 spent!

A 588% increase in return by using video.

Across the board, our audience clicked more often, bought more products, and ultimately spent more money.

Since running this test campaign we have now rolled video ads out throughout the account, and are pleased to be recording a similar upturn in conversions and ROAS.

To learn more about video advertising, check out our podcast Video Advertising Brings New Life To Online Marketing.

If you would like help trialling Facebook Video Ads give us a call on +44 (0)1603 343477 or contact us by emailing us at enquiries@clarkstjames.com.