Following on the heels of Facebook’s announced plans to introduce video ads to its News Feed, Moontoast, a rich media ad platform provider, and the video platform VideoGenie unveiled a new partnership today that will also enable advertisers to insert videos into the social network’s News Feed.
Moontoast is a Facebook-preferred marketing developer and winner of the PMD Innovation Award; its partnership with VideoGenie will not compete with the social network, insisted co-founder and CTO Marcus Whitney.
“Moontoast does not have access to Facebook’s plans for its autoplay videos, but as a preferred marketing developer we align our products with Facebook,” Whitney said. “We have no intention of competing with them. Facebook has incredible targeting capabilities and we’re providing a platform that complements those capabilities.”
VideoGenie supports videos created by its clients’ brand advocates and shares them across social networks. It includes features such as a time limit to encourage advocates to create short videos. Its customers include Anheuser-Busch, Levi’s, Intuit, Priceline, IBM and Pottery Barn.
By teaming up with Moontoast, VideoGenie clients can place their video ads more prominently on Facebook. “Now brands can not only leverage our video capabilities, but people will also see the videos on their Facebook News Feed. That’s exciting because we know customers spend so much time on the News Feed,” commented VideoGenie founder and CEO Justin Nassiri.
Given Facebook’s increasing tendency to cut off access to its APIs, it is not difficult to imagine the behemoth social network pulling the plug on similar video ads. Regardless, automotive and consumer packaged goods companies have expressed interest in experimenting with Moontoast and VideoGenie’s new social rich media ad unit, which is available starting today. Consumers can expect to see the first videos later this year, according to Nassiri. Facebook’s autoplay video ads are expected to begin popping up this summer.
