Facebook launches its new full screen mobile ad unit

On Thursday, Facebook unveiled Canvas, its new full-screen mobile ad unit. At the press event, Facebook also announced that the ad unit would be brought to Instagram in the second half of 2016, and maybe its Audience Network in the future. Canvas gives advertisers a full-page, immersive experience, which allows them to build visually-engaging stories using video, still images, and text. Users are able to access the experience via a native ad in their News Feed.  

But the richer mobile ads will not be constrained for long to what the company internally refers to as the “big blue app.” At a Facebook press event Thursday, execs said Canvas will be syndicated to Instagram in the second half of 2016. The company will explore extending Canvas to its Audience Network as well.

Canvas provides advertisers with a full-page, immersive experience on which to build visually engaging stories using video, still images and text. Facebook users click into the experience through a native ad in their feed. Integrated calls to action minimize load times, making the user experience instantaneous.

Facebook worked closely with agency creatives in developing Canvas to be sure it can be used by everyone “from your local coffee shop to Madison Avenue,” said Facebook product manager Paresh Rajwat.

“These ads are created using a very basic self-service tool that requires no software to be downloaded or a single line of code to be written,” he explained.