Facebook is giving advertisers the option to pay for video ads only if users view them for at least 10 seconds, as the social media company faces pressure over how it charges for ads.

2014-10-29T115521Z_01_AA38_RTRIDSP_3_FACEBOOK-RESULTS-29-10-2014-13-10-40-943

Facebook on Tuesday began offering the new ad-buying feature to bigger advertisers.

Previously, Facebook charged advertisers when their video ads appeared in news feeds. But advertisers and media buyers expressed frustration, arguing that users were quickly passing by the ads in their feeds even as Facebook counted them as viewed. In essence, they argued that Facebook was charging them for content that consumers never saw.

Elisabeth Diana, a Facebook spokeswoman, said that the company was aware of these complaints, and that it had been thinking about a new ad-buying option.

“We want to give marketers more flexibility,” she said. “We heard the frustration, but we’ve been working on this for a while.”

She also said that the company did not think the 10-second option was the most cost-efficient for advertisers, citing Nielsen research showing that video ads have value – for instance, brand awareness increases – even if consumers view them for less than 10 seconds.