MUMBAI: The news of Facebook acquiring video advertising company, LiveRail didn’t really come as a surprise.

It was in March when Facebook first began offering 15-second video ads for a limited number of companies on its website. The company has moved cautiously in introducing video ads on its social network to prevent a backlash from users who might find the ads annoying.

This acquisition is the social media company’s latest step to make video ads a bigger part of its business.

According to Reuters, Facebook has not disclosed the price for the San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 2007 and has offices in several countries.

It can be noted that LiveRail's technology automatically pairs video ads with the videos that appear on many websites, such as Major League Baseball, ABC and A&E Networks website.

The report on Reuters also states that video ads command higher prices than other forms of online advertising such as banner ads. Facebook and other internet rivals like Google are increasingly trying to grab a slice of lucrative TV-marketing budgets as they try to sustain rapid growth.

For records, it was early last year that Facebook bought Whatsapp for US$19.5 billon.

It will be interesting to see how Facebook ropes in brands to scale its video advertising inventory in the coming days.