Facebook wants you to see a lot more high-quality video from brands in your News Feed. So it’s rolling out a new program that anoints video production partners to work with advertisers and its Facebook Creative Shop, including familiar names such as Disney (through its Oh My Disney division), Funny or Die, and The Onion.
In announcing its Anthology partner initiative, Facebook says it chose its seven marketing partners “to lend brands their creativity, storytelling expertise and video production know-how.”
Others on Facebook’s approved list are Electus Digital, Tastemade, Vice Media and Vox Media. However, Facebook makes it clear that brands are still free “to work with any content producer on their Facebook advertising campaigns.”
Why the drive to a formal video advertising partnership program? Part of it has to do with what Facebook says is creating “relevant” video ads. Another part is that Facebook has seen, and documented, a huge increase in video uploads appearing in New Feeds. Now it seems to want to ensure that advertisers get in on that action by producing what it’s called “thumb-stopping creative.”
