With auto-play videos now being a firmly established part of the Facebook News Feed, the social network is reportedly planning to try upping the quality of the ads displayed there. A new ad format called a cinemagraph will reportedly start appearing in the News Feed soon, according to Adweek.
The ads are moving GIFs, but the motion is restrained to just a few parts of the image. An ad for wine might show a large banquet table with just a single glass of wine swirling, for instance. Or an ad for a newspaper might show a reader slowly stirring his coffee while everything else around it is static. An agency that’s been experimenting heavily with cinemagraphs, Ann Street Studio, features several of the ads on their website.
The ads have a dreamy, hypnotic quality that makes them stand out amongst the multimedia assault most users experience as they surf the Web. Most likely, these types of ads would be played on loop, a functionality that Facebook just added to Instagram last week. The unique format might convince users to stop scrolling and actually take an ad in for several moments, which would be good news for both marketers and Facebook.
This Is What Your Facebook Profile Looked Like Over the Last 11 Years
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Cybersecurity Experts Are Sounding the Alarm on DOGE
- Meet the 2025 Women of the Year
- The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion
- Why Do More Young Adults Have Cancer?
- Colman Domingo Leads With Radical Love
- How to Get Better at Doing Things Alone
- Michelle Zauner Stares Down the Darkness
Contact us at letters@time.com