“People love these ads,” Facebook product lead Paresh Rajwat said of early tests of Canvas. “They interact with these ads; Like them; comment on them; share them. We see people spending over 30 seconds in these experiences.” Altimeter principal analyst Charlene Li, who attended the Facebook unveiling, said the new program “is truly linear storytelling.” “Finally, we have an ad unit that can compete with a 30-second television ad,” she said.
Ads created using Canvas will be served up the same as other ads at the social network, and will cost the same to advertisers, according to Rajwat.
Canvas ads are designed to work on mobile devices powered by Apple or Android software.