Updated: 'Watched' and 'want to watch' buttons come temporarily to Facebook's Sponsored Stories

[Update 4/24/13: We've learned that the addition of "watched" and "want to watch" buttons on Page Like Sponsored Stories, as seen in the image to the right, was a temporary bug and this ad type will not have these buttons going forward. Facebook says advertisers were not charged for these clicks. We've removed parts of this report to reflect our new information.] With the launch of the new Timeline sections, Facebook users have new options to engage with paid and organic stories about movies, TV shows, books and music in more authentic and structured ways, including being able to indicate that they "want to watch" a film. However, there are still limits to which actions advertisers can pay to promote and the data they receive about these new engagement types. For now, companies cannot create Sponsored Stories about users adding their content to Timeline unless the users Like the page or interact with a page post. That means, for example, The Great Gatsby can promote when a user Likes its page, but not when users say they "want to watch it." But even if advertisers can't sponsor a "watched" or "want to watch" story, users will be able to take those actions from Page-Like Sponsored Stories. Entertainment companies that run this ad type will find that their Page-Like Sponsored Stories now include a plus sign, which users can click or tap to get the "watched" and "want to watch" options for movies and TV shows. This is good for studios promoting films ahead of their release. A user might not be ready to say they "Like" the film, but they might "want to watch" it. This will add the title to the user's Timeline and could generate a News Feed story to their friends. Although advertisers buying CPC ads will be charged for the click, they will not get a report about how many users indicated that they watched or want to watch their film. The same goes for organic actions of this kind. Pages do not yet receive any insights about how many people added them to watched, want-to-watch or other sections of the new About page. Advertisers are also prevented from targeting users who specifically said they "watched" or "want to watch" a title. They can, however, target all users who have a particular film as an interest, which might mean a user Likes the page or has added it to their watched or want-to-watch lists.

Social Pro Daily

Updated: 'Watched' and 'want to watch' buttons come temporarily to Facebook's Sponsored Stories

Brittany Darwell

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Brittany Darwell