Facebook launches Canvas, a DIY full-screen ad product

Facebook on Thursday announced the launch of Canvas, a new mobile product that allows video ads to play in full-screen whenever someone taps on one in their News Feed.

According to a press release sent to Memeburn, the product was built in collaboration with agencies and brands and is aimed at allowing them to create immersive mobile ad experiences that load nearly instantaneously.

Facebook says that Canvas gives brands agencies, “a fully customizable space on which to build multimedia stories”.

Advertisers, the social network says, can use a mix of video, still images, text and call-to-action buttons to “build beautiful and effective brand and product experiences on mobile”.

According to Facebook Chief Creative Officer Mark D’Arcy, the product is analogous to the immersive kind of ads we’ve seen in the real world. He also suggested that Canvas is designed to easily facilitate the kind of evolution other Facebook advertising products have seen.

“This space was designed and created with the creative community around the world,” he said. “Probably the thing we’re most excited for is how creatives will use Canvas in ways we haven’t even started to imagine”.

Facebook says it won’t be charging any extra for Canvas, as it’s simply integrated its existing ad units into the new offering. The same applies to its policies around brand safety.

While Facebook isn’t planning to use Canvas to increase the number of ads on the platform, it does say that users will be able to tell when an ad can be expanded into Canvas.

Built natively, Facebook says that Canvas loads 10 times faster than conventional mobile ads, allows advertisers to build ads using a mix of video, images, text and call-to-action buttons, and is easy to build with no code or software required. In fact, Facebook says that Canvas is designed to be as easy for local coffee shops to use as it is for Fortune 500 companies.

If Facebook’s internal testing to believe, it’s worked too. Not only do advertisers find it easy to create Canvas ads, but people actually like them too.

US-based fast food outlet Wendy’s for instance says it saw an average of 65-seconds view time on its Canvas trial ads.

“People interact with these ads in the same way as they interact with organic stories,” said Paresh Rajwat, Product Lead News Feed. “In 16 years of advertising, I’ve never seen anything like this.”

That’s big talk, but as advertisers increasingly find themselves fighting off the threats posed by a jaded public and ad-blocking software, it’s bound to get agencies and brands talking.

Canvas is available globally immediately for iOS and Android devices, with Facebook saying that it may consider other device categories in the near future.

Updates to follow.