In January 2024, Meta announced its new, exciting format for inventory ads: Product Level Video (PLV). We sat down with our Marketing Specialist, Daniella, to learn what all the buzz is about and what it means for auto retailers.
1. What are the most reliable and updated facts about social media advertising vs other online channels? I mean in terms of ROI and effect in comparison with other media alternatives?
Social media advertising and other forms of advertising aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s important to hit all your customer touch points. With nearly 5 billion users, we can agree that not being on social media would be a huge disadvantage. Not to mention, machine learning on platforms like Meta has come a very long way. Their algorithms are constantly evolving to deliver the most relevant ads to the right users, at the right time.
2. What's this new thing that META and others call PLV… Product Level Videos?
Up until now, advertising on an inventory level on Meta was limited to still images but with Product Level Video, this has been expanded to include video. For auto retailers, PLV is the next generation of Meta's Automotive Inventory Ads. Car dealers can advertise all their cars on a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) level.
This is great news because we already know that video is king. It's the most engaging format and it helps in differentiating ad creatives. Internal studies from Meta found that combining images and video in ad campaigns led to 17% higher conversions compared to images alone.
3. Creating videos on an inventory level sounds... complicated. Am I right?
Exactly. Scalability is the hardest part in all of this. How can you create a unique video for every single product in your inventory? For auto retailers, they have Phyron. Our AI and automation can produce thousands of video ads within minutes, zero manual work required. All we need is access to their existing data – their car specifications and photographs – and our technology does the rest.
4. What about formats? Can I use the same PLV formats for Facebook and other social channels?
You can use PLV across all of Meta – Reels, Feed, and Stories – on both Facebook and Instagram.
5. Are there standardized PLV video lengths? What lengths are proven to be most effective and cost effective?
You want to get your message across in the least time possible, ideally no longer than 10 seconds. More specifically, within the first 2 seconds, you want to catch your audience’s attention. Within 3 seconds, you want to generate interest. And within 5-6 seconds, you should already have a Call-to-Action.
6. What material do I or my ad agency have to produce and deliver?
For those already advertising their cars on an inventory level, they’ll now have the option to add a video URL to their catalog ads. The main question is how can you scale your video production in the first place? We work with car dealers and digital agencies to do exactly that. We not only create the videos, but host and publish them through our API. This isn't limited to Meta, but also our client websites, online marketplaces, and other social media platforms like YouTube.
7. Ok, what if I have a really large number of unique products… like a thousand cars of different brands and specifications?
Let’s face it, video production is arduous. Creating a thousand unique videos manually for all your cars is simply not doable in terms of time and money. That’s where AI and automation come in. At Phyron, our API automatically fetches the existing data of our customers (their car images and specifications) and can create thousands of video ads from this alone.
8. Can I customize my videos to highlight the unique selling points for each video ad? What about branding?
100%. Our AI-automated videos are fully customizable – clients can choose which angles and features to highlight. They can choose different design templates, fonts, colors, logos, currencies, Call-to-Actions and so much more. There are hundreds of ways to customize, even when advertising on such a huge scale.
9. If I want to combine AI automated video production and publishing it via PLV, is there a minimum budget to explore this new way of working? And, what’s the first step?
For the AI video production part, our pricing is based on volume, or the number of cars a dealership has in their inventory. We’ve worked out that for the price of a cappuccino ☕️ (per car), dealers can create a video ad for each car in their catalog.
If you’re in auto retail, signing up for Phyron would be the first step in scaling your video production. In terms of your ad budget on Meta, there is no additional cost for including video as a format but you do need a sufficient budget to compete in Meta’s "ad auction".
10. Anything else to add?
If you're interested in running PLV ads, the best time to get started is yesterday. As this is a brand new feature, there's a huge opportunity to stand out from your competitors on Meta. Get in touch with our team to find out how Phyron can help you scale your video production!
