Facebook brings 360-degree videos to iOS, opens up format to brands with first ads from AT&T, Samsung, Corona, Walt Disney World, others
In September we launched the ability … James Vincent / The Verge : Facebook's 360-degree News Feed videos arrive on iOS See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the moment Facebook turns 360-degree video from a desktop experiment into a mobile distribution play. After launching the format in September, it now reaches iPhone owners — closing the gap with Google, which had already brought its Spotlight Stories 360 app to iOS months earlier. Just as important is the business side: AT&T, Samsung, Corona, Walt Disney World and others become the first advertisers buying into the format, giving Facebook paid inventory that ordinary News Feed video can't offer.
The move kicks off a two-year expansion arc in Facebook's immersive push — from Live 360 debuting with NatGeo, to a Facebook 360 hub built exclusively for Samsung's Gear VR, to opening 360-degree streaming to all compatible users. Today's brand-ad launch is what makes that pipeline commercially sustainable.
First-order effects
- iPhone users can now watch the same 360-degree News Feed videos previously limited to other surfaces, immediately expanding the audience every 360 publisher and advertiser can reach.
- AT&T, Samsung, Corona, and Walt Disney World gain first-mover status in a new premium ad unit, setting the creative benchmarks later brand buyers will be measured against.
Second-order effects
- Samsung appears on both sides of the ecosystem — an early advertiser here and, per the related coverage, the exclusive hardware partner for Facebook's later 360 hub on Gear VR — tying its headset strategy directly to Facebook's content supply.
- Google's Spotlight Stories push into iOS now faces a rival whose 360 content lives inside a default social feed rather than a standalone app, pressuring distribution-based competition over format quality.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, immersive formats stop being experimental stunts and become standard, ad-backed feed inventory: Facebook's steady rollout — photos, live, in-app capture tools, universal streaming — points toward 360 content being created and consumed by ordinary users rather than just studios and brands.
The trend: Immersive 360-degree media is shifting from niche hardware-dependent demos toward default, ad-monetized features inside mainstream social feeds.