Facebook soothes investors by launching video ads

Facebook appeased shareholders and advertisers Tuesday as it announced to roll out video advertising later this week. Shares of the largest social network rose close to 2 percent, to a new all-time high.

"We're testing a new way for marketers to tell stories in News Feed," the company reported. Facebook, at a $134.7 billion market capitalization, is now tapping into a $66.4 billion TV advertising market. It also helps the company better compete with Google's YouTube.

The change was long anticipated by marketers as they move toward producing more video to lure consumers, though the offering is still in its testing phase. Facebook will start testing ads for the upcoming movie "Divergent," by Lionsgate films. Lionsgate's share price also inched in response to the news.

Consumers will start seeing some potentially intrusive video ads on their news feeds beginning Thursday. Though some experts say consumers won't notice too much of a difference as the ads will be few and far between. Consumers also have the choice to not view ads by simply scrolling away. Ads will not have sound unless clicked on, though they will play automatically.

[USA Today] [Wall Street Journal] [Forbes] [ReadWrite]