If you live in the US you might have noticed a brand new tab when you logged into Facebook today. Facebook Watch, which the social media giant announced in August, is now live in the US. Watch is a separate Facebook tab that offers users hundreds of original shows and content that’ll be sponsored by Facebook and other media outlets.
It seems that with Watch, Facebook are trying to squeeze their way into a couple of lucrative markets. The exponential growth of Netflix won’t have gone unnoticed at Facebook HQ and YouTube’s recent taunt to the music industry that they were lucky to get the mere billion dollars YouTube were offering them, seems like just the kind of self-entitled bluster that Zuckerberg would love to get involved in.
What they’re hoping to do is stop funding the content that will be available on Watch and instead tax the creators a whopping 45% of the ad revenue they gain from their shows. So far so Facebook.
As to whether Zuckerberg and Facebook will pull it off is another matter. For now, the content available on the Watch tab is limited to say the least. If they open the platform up to a wider base of content creators then the service could have legs but really, Facebook aren’t offering anything new here with Watch. Will that matter though?
What do you think? Are you excited by Facebook’s new video service?
7 things you should never share on Facebook by softonic-en
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