MUMBAI: Facebook has launched a new product called Canvas for advertisers, which allows them to combine video, photographs and copy in an ad.

Canvas was originally announced in September last year. These immersive advertisements aim to draw more attention of the user into their ads, by blocking out all other content. When users click a Facebook News Feed ad connected to Canvas, it opens a full-screen, rich media page inside of Facebook rather than forcing users to wait for a mobile website to load.

In a blog post, Facebook said, “We’re committed to building great mobile experiences for people and doing so also opens up new creative possibilities for advertisers. We’ve invested in engaging experiences like video and the carousel format to empower advertisers with more creative space to share their brand and products on mobile.”

Said to load 10 times faster than other ads would otherwise, Facebook also stated that in their research 53 per cent of people viewed more than half of the ad and average view time was 31 seconds. Currently, these ads are available for Android and iOS, while the social media giant evaluates how to expand this option to other versions and apps such as Instagram.

“This space was designed and invented and inspired by our relationship with the creative community,” Facebook CCO Mark D’Arcy said at a press event.

Canvas is an evolution of the earlier Carousel ads, which allowed users to swipe through multiple product or brand photos if they were interested in more information.