Facebook is testing Instant Videos, a feature that will allow users to watch more video on mobile without eating into their data plan.
Facebook Instant Videos coming soon? ⚡️
h/t Devesh Logendran pic.twitter.com/rNZYkbeL2r
— Matt Navarra ⭐️ (@MattNavarra) September 11, 2017
Videos will be downloaded and cached in the background while using Facebook on a wifi network.
After switching to a cellular network, the pre-loaded videos will be available to watch without having to use mobile data.
‘Instant Videos’ in your feed will be marked with a lighting bolt icon, similar to AMP and Facebook’s Instant Articles.
It would be interesting to learn if Facebook’s video ads are cached as well. If not, advertisers may get upset if Instant Videos gets released more widely.
However, users and content creators have much to appreciate about this feature.
It only makes sense to assume videos that have been natively uploaded to Facebook are going to be cached as an Instant Video. It’s unlikely Facebook will be caching YouTube videos, for example.
At this point it seems like only a limited number of users, likely Android developers, are seeing this feature right now.
It’s not known when or if Instant Videos will get a wide release, but it’s important for marketers to know about the importance Facebook places on video content.
