Facebook is trying to become the new TV
It seems like Facebook wants it all. Shortly after announcing the Camera Effects platform and effectively becoming a future leader in Augmented Reality platforms, Facebook has now announced it's intention to go after mainstream Television and Streaming Video services. They've commissioned roughly 25 shows, the first of which will premiere in mid-June.
Facebook is reportedly looking for content in two distinct categories: a premium category for long format, high-budget shows that are like what you currently see on TV, and a lower category for shorter, less expensive shows of around 5-10 minutes in length that refreshes every 24 hours.
The Co-Founder of CollegeHumour, Ricky Van Veen, who Facebook hired in December of last year to be their Global Creative Strategy chief , is leading this initiative, with a clear focus to prioritise the teen market. The highly coveted teen demographic is where Facebook has lost the most ground and is currently locked in a constant tussle with Snapchat. This move then appears to be about getting teens to spend more time on Facebook.
What do you think? Would you watch a TV show on Facebook?
Here I thought TV shows alone are interrupted by way too much ads, imagine how it will be viewing them on facebook. :D
Yes that will be a challenge for them. Facebook is fundamentally based around "stumbling upon" or discovery of content. It would need them to build in a fundamental platform wide feature to create a very different kind of user behaviour that is required for streaming video.
gl fb lol
I think they may be on to something here. For example, Facebook is HUGE in India, and lots of young people are not consuming any television at all. Facebook is where several breakout content stars have surfaced and brands have been built over the past few years. This will be an interesting one to watch.
I think youtube has a better chance and are better positioned at the moment to replace the tv for folks than Facebook would be, but i guess we'll see:)
I would tend to agree with you largely - but YouTube monetization is a mess right now. Some influential creators are leaving because of the new ad placement policies, which have led to videos with strong language or controversial opinions get automatically de-monitized. People are PISSED. Ultimately the future of user-created video is going to be subscription supported, as an ad-led model will always lead to restrictive content policies and ultimately self or platform enforced censorship.
oh yeah.. there's that! lol :)