Magazine-reading app Flipboard is getting video ads

You may see Flipboard’s reading app as an oasis from an internet full of video services like YouTube, but it appears that you can’t quite escape those moving pictures. The magazine-like service is now rolling out full-page video ads in a pilot program; browse through major sections starting today and you’ll see promo clips from the likes of Chrysler and Sony Pictures. If all goes according to plan, the pilot should expand on November 1st.

Now appearing in the virtual pages of Flipboard magazines: Video ads. Not a surprise, since every digital platform is selling, or wants to sell, video ads. And in this case Flipboard was clear about its intentions in August, when CEO Mike McCue announced that the new ads would come this month. Sony, Gucci and Chrysler are some of the first brands trying out the new format. Flipboard, which claims 100 million active users, has two twists on its version of video ads worth paying attention to. The first is that the videos are being presented as additional components to its existing display ads, and that users need to engage with them to get them to play. You can’t buy a standalone video ad, and there’s no Facebook-like autoplay option. The other thing worth noting is that Flipboard says it won’t charge a premium for video, though it will require advertisers to lay out a minimum spend. Clever, since one of the main reasons digital publishers are gaga about video ads is that they can charge higher prices for them.