Facebook announced a major milestone for its Facebook Watch video platform, “there are now more than 720 million people monthly and 140 million people daily who spend at least one minute in Watch”, Facebook said.
Facebook Watch made its global a little less than a year ago and today, the platform is looking to compete with YouTube for eyeballs in video content. On average people spend 26 minutes a day watching videos on Facebook.
To further boost its growth, Facebook Watch also includes shows produced by partners such as MTV, CNN and Univision in addition to user-generated content.
“In addition to our Facebook Watch Originals, we are partnering with publishers and creators around the world so that they can bring timely, relevant and entertaining videos to Facebook Watch.”
“We are also continuing our strategy of investing in a range of content that encourages conversations and connections,” Facebook said.
Facebook is also tapping into the social network aspect of watching by making to easy way to find groups based on the videos you’re watching.
And to make it somewhat worthwhile for content creators, Facebook generates money from “ad breaks” on its videos, which are available in more than 40 countries and provide revenue to creators and partners, similar to what YouTube does.
The number of pages earning over US$1,000 (about RM4,170) in payouts per-month has increased eightfold over the past year, and those earning over US$10,000 has tripled, according to Facebook.