Report: NBC is the first major TV network to utilize auto-play video ads

Facebook executives spoke glowingly of video in the Q1 2014 earnings call, and now we can see why. Facebook confirmed that NBC is the first major U.S. TV network to buy in to Facebook’s premium auto-play video ads.

NBC has launched an auto-play video ad campaign on Facebook to promote three shows: “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Night Shift” and “Undateable.” The ads started 12:01 a.m. EST Wednesday and will run for 24 hours, showing up in News Feeds of Facebook users 18 and older.

NBCUniversal Vice President of Media Kjerstin Beatty said that she’s a huge fan of Facebook’s ability to broadcast a message, calling the auto-play video ads a Facebook ad “on steroids”:

Facebook — the scale alone there — the ability to deliver as many eyeballs as we’re doing today, it’s really hard to find that anywhere else.