[February 29, 2012] Facebook rolls out new ads to woo Madison Avenue before IPO Tweet Feb 29, 2012 (Los Angeles Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Facebook wooed Madison Avenue on Wednesday with new ways for advertisers to connect with its 845 million users. The social network unveiled ads that will appear in the News Feed and even on the logout screen on the desktop and on mobile devices. It's a bid to get major brands to spend more money on the site ahead of Facebook's initial public offering. Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg told marketers that "everyone of us can have the power of voice" at a splashy event in New York City. Facebook's pitch: Brands will have much of the same ability to interact with users as users have to interact with each other, turning ads into "stories" that have the look and feel of the rest of Facebook. Most of the new features will be available to marketers in March. For example, Paramount plans to promote the re-release of "Titanic" in 3-D with a video trailer that will jump from its page to the right-hand side of pages, to the News Feed and to the logout screen, giving Paramount the potential to reach 17 million Titanic fans and their 700 million friends. Facebook estimates users will see one such "premium" ad in their News Feed a day. Facebook is under pressure to make more money from ads as it prepares to sell its stock to the public at a valuation that could top $100 billion. The bulk of Facebook's $3.7 billion in revenue last year came from online advertising. Ad sales rose 69% to $3.15 billion last year, according to the company's IPO filing. Revenue grew as the number of ads Facebook showed users increased 42% and the average price per ad increased 18%. ___ (c)2012 the Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]