Facebook rolls out mobile ads and premium formats

The new premium ad formats enable brands to include video and coupons in their ads and will appear in a user's timeline.

The changes mean that for the first time, Facebook's premium ads and Sponsored Stories will appear on the social network's log-out page and on its mobile app.

The mobile ads will appear in a user's timeline, in a similar way to Twitter's recently announced mobile ad changes.

They are available now for Android and iPhone in the US, and will roll out to other countries in coming months.

Carolyn Everson, vice-president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, announced the changes during the company’s inaugural Facebook Marketers Conference in the US last night.

Facebook hosted more than 1,000 individuals from the marketing industry at the event. As well as talks from the company's top brass, including chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, it treated guests to an after party with a performance from Alicia Keys.

Prior to the event yesterday, a number of brands, including Burberry, Coca-Cola and Manchester United, rolled out new updates to their brand pages, which include a timeline.

The pages are free to set up and so the new ad formats, announced shortly afterwards, signal Facebook's intend to drive revenue from brands which use the site as a marketing tool.

The majority of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising. When the company filed for an IPO last month, it revealed that its advertising accounted for 85% of its $3.7bn (£2.3bn) total revenues last year.

Follow Sarah Shearman on Twitter @Shearmans

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk