This new feature is still little known to the general public, but there is a huge gamble behind it.
FACEBOOK WATCH CREATION
Facebook Watch was launched in the United States in 2017 but was not launched worldwide until August 2018. This gap year can be seen as a test before propelling Watch onto the international stage. And this test proved to be conclusive, as about 50 million Americans have used the service to watch videos.
Logging into your Facebook account is the only way to enjoy Watch's services, no need to install another application.
CONTENTS OF FACEBOOK WATCH
There is also a "Watchlist" which is a suggestion of videos to watch later. This feature is also available on many other video platforms.
This new Facebook feature is completely free
Facebook has invested more than a billion dollars to develop this new feature. This money has included hiring celebrities and TV stars. It has also sponsored original series. One example is "Sorry for your loss", the most successful series on this platform. But there are other series such as "SKAM Austin" and "Sacred lies" or "Five Points".
The themes of the videos on offer are varied, ranging from cooking to series and live sports. For example, this new Facebook feature allows its South American subscribers to watch Champions League matches. NBA matches have also been broadcast live on this platform. Live videos are another facet of the Watch feature. This allows Internet users to watch a live show or interview, and allows comments to be left in time and visible to others watching the video.
It is assumed that Facebook collects your account information. For example, videos or images where you have put a like, posts where you have reacted to suggest videos that may be specifically suitable for you. This data collection also allows you to classify the videos. For example, videos where you have left several comments are categorized as: people are talking about it. Videos where several people have reacted with the emoji "haha" are categorized as: making people laugh.
The social network also offers jobs. Indeed, they offer to give money to people called creators, like on Youtube, to make videos of about 3 minutes. However, these creators must have more than 10,000 friends and their creations must be seen at least 30,000 times in 2 months.
THE AMBITIONS OF FACEBOOK WATCH
Facebook Watch wants to be a direct competitor to Youtube as well as video-on-demand platforms such as the two giants Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Facebook's ambition with this new feature is to be the only window for audiovisual productions. This is in line with their desire to always monopolize our attention, so that we don't go looking elsewhere.
Today, people still don't see Facebook as the place you would think of going to to watch videos like on Youtube. But their focus is clearly in that direction.
In conclusion, the Facebook Watch platform doesn't bring anything innovative with what we already have. It can be described as a platform gathering in one place audiovisual products visible on different sites like Youtube, Netflix or Hulu.
In the same category