Facebook's Canvas ads reach 100-years' worth of viewing
Facebook has revealed the first significant statistics about Canvas, its mobile advertising platform. Since its launch in February, users have spent a total of 100 years using Canvas, breaking down to an average of 31 seconds per user. Canvas has been a hit with mobile users as the content-rich, high-impact ads are fast to load and marketers are benefiting from the speed ability to create an ad in ten minutes or less. Facebook has also included a metric that allows advertisers to suspend campaigns to adjust for view time and scroll depth data.

Canvas. Image credit: Facebook

Since Facebook's latest mobile ad unit Canvas went live in February, culmulatively people have spent more than 100 years of time in the offering, according to the social behemoth. On an individual basis, this works out to viewers spending an average of 31 seconds in Canvas ads.

The Canvas unit appears as a rich media ad that gets Facebook's users to click through and engage with several different components in an ecosystem that's separate to the timeline.

In the latest release of stats about how the first few months of Canvas have fared, Facebook says that Canvases load approximately 10 times faster than mobile web, with the average mobile web page download being around eight seconds.

Speaking with AdNews, Big Mobile's group chief executive officer Graham Christie says these numbers show that higher impact advertising, whether it's video or rich media creative, generates better brand outcomes.

“Many marketers and publishers found that out some time ago on mobile, so Facebook is essentially stating the obvious, because, well - now it can," Christie adds.

“There's also going to be an understandable curiosity among Facebook users in something new, which is probably inflating the metrics. Nonetheless, if this assists hesitant marketers see some of the possibilities in rich media on mobile, it's positive."

The social giant isn't just championing that ads are quick to load and people spend a lot of time in them - they are also quick to build. Facebook says that more than 50% of Canvas ads are built in 10 minutes or less.

G Squared's campaign director George Pappas explains to AdNews that Canvas is where Instant Articles meet instant ads, adding that this is just another play by Facebook to keep consumers in its ecosystem at all times.

“Brands can now create an interactive experience combining text and rich media emulating a splash page or landing page," Pappas says.

"Like Instant Articles, Facebook Browser and bots on Messenger, Facebook is desperately embedding its products in our browsing behaviour as such that one day, I suspect there will be little need to leave its ecosystem in everyday browsing."

When releasing these stats, Facebook explained it has now even built a new metric for advertisers who are looking to understand how their canvases are driving brand objectives.

These new measures show advertisiers the average view time and average scroll depth experienced in campaigns. Facebook says that some advertisers view these results in real time, they then go on to pause campaigns to incorporate these learnings, and then turn campaigns on again.

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