Meta has started testing video ads on Threads following the rollout of image-based ads to all advertisers globally. “We’re testing video ads on Threads so businesses can expand their reach and engage with their audience in a familiar way across multiple platforms,” Meta wrote, following its IAB NewFronts 2025 presentation.

Now, video creatives in 16:9 or 1:1 formats will be shown between user posts, similar to the ad experience on Instagram and Facebook. According to the platform, video ads will be open to limited advertisers for now. These video ads will be placed inside the Threads feed, where organic content already lives.

As short-form video continues to dominate user engagement across platforms, Meta is offering another way for brands to attract more customers through motion and sound. During its Q1 2025 earnings call, Meta said Threads has grown to more than 350 million monthly active users, with a 35% uptick in time spent on the app. Threads' growing usage gives Meta another channel to test its video advertising formats.

Reels trending ads bring new placement options to Instagram

Meta is also expanding its short-form ad options on Instagram. The company is testing Reels trending ads, a new ad format shown alongside trending Reels made by creators. The goal is to give advertisers a way to align their content with Reels that are already generating high engagement.

AI is powering trend discovery in Creator Marketplace

Meta is updating Instagram’s Creator Marketplace with new AI-driven tools. These include AI-powered keyword searches, performance metrics like interaction rate and hook rate, and a breakdown of each creator’s past brand partnerships.

The company will also test "Trends" on Instagram’s Creator Marketplace — a feature that identifies what's currently popular on Instagram Reels using AI. It ranks topics by various metrics and displays relevant Reels along with suggested creators tied to those trends. Meta is piloting a Creator Marketplace API to help advertisers scale how they find and connect with creators.

Facebook Live returns with ad backing

Meta is also relaunching Facebook Live in a new form. Now called ‘Facebook Live Partnership Ads,’ this format lets brands pay to boost live creator streams, turning them into shoppable events or branded broadcasts. 

This marks a comeback for Facebook Live, which Meta shut down in 2022. The new approach focuses less on organic livestreaming and more on monetized creator partnerships.

AI-powered video expansion comes to Facebook Reels

Meta is also adding “Video Expansion” to Facebook Reels. The company said this tool uses AI to fill in unseen pixels in video frames. This allows marketers to expand a video’s aspect ratio without manually reshooting or editing the footage. This could help videos adapt to different screen formats or placements without losing quality. 

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