Facebook is (finally) preparing to make money off its massive video audience

Facebook is about to turn up the volume on its video competition with YouTube. 

Videos on the social network can soon include mid-roll advertisements, allowing publishers to finally start making money from their videos, Recode reported Monday. 

Unlike YouTube where ads run prior to the video and can be skippable after 5 seconds, ads within Facebook videos can be inserted 20 seconds into any video that lasts at least 90 seconds. 

The move to ad breaks comes as little surprise to publishers. This mid-roll ad system is the same format Facebook has tested with live videos. "We've found that this model is working well, and we plan to expand this test to make it available to more partners," a Facebook spokesperson wrote in an email to Mashable.  Read more...