Back in December, Facebook announced that it was experimenting with autoplay video — specifically, 15-second ad spots that would play right in desktop and mobile News Feeds. Autoplay videos are designed to run for short periods of time and reach large audiences, making Lionsgate and its young adult action movie Divergent an attractive choice for Facebook’s initial market testing. Yesterday a blog post revealed the next phase: bringing brands into the fold. According to Facebook’s For Business page, Premium Video Ads are meant to mirror the way TV advertising works now, where marketers are only on the hook for ads measured as delivered by a third-party company (in this case, Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings).

What you need to know from a consumer standpoint:

• Premium Video Ads will not play sound unless clicked or tapped
• Users can scroll right past a video they don’t want to watch
• Facebook will be keeping a close check on video ad volumes in the News Feed
• Device data plans will not be affected

What you need to know from an advertising standpoint:

• Facebook’s experiment with autoplay videos shared by friends indicated a 10% lift in engagement
• Premium Video Ads are meant to complement, not replace, Page Post Video Ads
• For now, targeting is confined to age and gender
• Advertisers will have the opportunity to feature two additional videos in a carousel format once the viewer has finished watching
• Facebook intends to roll out this new marketing opportunity slowly, with a “select group of advertisers”

Users can expect to start seeing Premium Video Ads in the News Feed next month. Are you excited or wary about this new development? Leave a comment below to let us know.