Businesses on Facebook bring their stories to life with captivating video ads, and now more people than ever are sharing, discovering and engaging with videos in News Feed. We want to amplify this connective power of video, so we’re rolling out new products and features that make organic videos and video ads in News Feed more rich and engaging.

Last year we began testing a larger rendering of vertical videos in News Feed on mobile, and found that people responded positively to this larger view—they were more likely to watch vertical videos for longer and with the sound on.

We also worked with ten brand advertisers in North America, Latin America and Europe to test the impact of vertical video ads against horizontal and square video ads. The tests used the same creative, video length, targeting, budget and bid—the only difference was the aspect ratio. Seven of the ten tests showed that vertical video ads drove an incremental increase in brand lift, including a three- to nine-point increase in ad recall.

The larger vertical video format in News Feed is now visible to everyone in the Facebook app. We have also added a larger vertical video format to other apps and surfaces, including Instagram, Facebook Live and the channel view on Facebook.

Shooting video for vertical and mobile from the start, instead of just modifying existing horizontal creative, may help ensure advertisers' campaigns have the maximum impact.

Historically, videos in News Feed have played silently by default—you have to tap on a video to hear sound. As people watch more videos on mobile devices, they've come to expect a “sound on” experience when the volume on their mobile device is turned on. We've run tests in multiple countries to understand whether people enjoy a default sound on experience in News Feed. With this new experience, sound fades in and out as they scroll through videos in News Feed, bringing those videos to life.

Early data from the countries where we are testing this experience show that 70% of video watch time, including video ads, is with sound on. The majority of people we surveyed felt positive about the experience, and we have seen increases in watch time and sharing where sound on was introduced. Over the coming months, people will start to see videos play with sound in News Feed on mobile if the volume on their phone is turned on.

We know that an effective message can still be conveyed in feed videos without sound, and there are situations where people will choose to watch with no sound, such as when they're in a public place. Using captions is a great way to drive longer view times and ensure your full message gets across even when the sound is off.

News Feed and Instagram continue to be the best place for advertisers to reach people with video when they're spending time on our platforms. Last year, we shared a number of best practices and creative examples to help advertisers build for mobile and feed.

Capturing attention quickly has never been more important, given the explosion of video content across all platforms. While we know value is created very early in a feed environment, we also know brand advertisers want people to see their entire video in order to deliver their full message to as much of their target audience as possible.

Advertisers like Budweiser and Air Wick are developing best-in-class short video creative that not only captures attention quickly, but also matches the frequent and active consumption experience of feed. In the examples below, you'll see a range of ads that have a higher likelihood of completion across mobile. To be able to use the same video creative across our family of apps, we recommend building assets that are fifteen seconds or less. We encourage partners to visit Creative Hub to find inspiration and leverage a wide arrange of tools for sharing your video content on our platforms.

Learn more about what we’re doing to make video on Facebook richer, more engaging and more flexible.