In a bid to extend reach and monetize its rapidly growing live video service, Facebook is now testing the use of real-time ads for Facebook Live, enabling broadcasters to drive more traffic to their live streams.

Since the public launch of Facebook Live in April, Facebook has bet big on the platform’s success and with more publishers and broadcasters using live video to share real-time stories and connect with their audiences, this was an inevitable step towards monetization and guaranteed reach for partners.

Benefit Cosmetics ran boosted posts from September 19 to September 25 for a live video called “Brow Hour” that aired on August 23. The campaign performed much better than other Facebook Live videos from the company, garnering a million reach, 392,000 engagements and 389,000 views.

New steps towards Facebook monetization

This update will allow brands and publishers to run adverts directly to users’ newsfeeds to alert them of an ongoing live broadcast with a push for them to join the live stream. Working in a similar way to a boosted post, brands and publishers will now be able to buy distribution on Facebook to have their live stream pushed to a targeted audience.

This is the latest in a string of updates to Facebook Live. Earlier this month the company released the ability for Facebook Pages to schedule the release of a live broadcast. With this new feature, audiences are placed in a pre-broadcast lobby, allowing viewers to interact and leave comments before the broadcast begins.

Facebook has also tested the use of in-stream ads within live video broadcasts. Unlike YouTube which is prominent in the use pre-roll ads, Facebook wants to integrate live ads that appear five minutes into a broadcast and last for 15 seconds, in an attempt to maintain the viewer experience.

Facebook’s current ability to run branded video content across live streams and real-time VOD clips is fully integrated with Grabyo Studio. Rights-holders and broadcasters can upload assets into Grabyo Studio from their sponsors and create stunning visual overlays to be displayed on Facebook and Twitter.

With all signs pointing towards the imminent monetization of Facebook Live, now is the perfect time to Try Grabyo.