Published in News

Facebook prepares its own original TV shows

by on09 May 2017


Cable and satellite get another alternative


The world’s largest social networking company is set to unveil its own catalog of original TV shows and short films for debut in mid-June, according to a report from Business Insider.

Mark Zuckerberg’s 13-year old social networking startup - turned highly-profitable corporation - plans to premiere a slate of 24 originals in the middle of next month, with several more approved for production later this year. According to people familiar with the discussions, Facebook has been looking to separate the shows into two separate tiers – a “marquee tier” for longer, big-budget shows that would be suitable for TV viewing, and a “lower tier” for short, cheaper shows, averaging five to 10 minutes in length that will refresh every 24 hours.

A mix of low-tier and high-tier shows

In other words, the high-tier content will let Facebook compete with media streaming giants Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and YouTube, all of which produce their own highly popular original shows. In December, the company hired Ricky Van Veen, co-founder of College Humor, to build its experience in “kickstarting an ecosystem of partner content” purposefully built for the site’s new “Video” tab. This feature began cropping up at the bottom menu within Facebook’s mobile app in April 2016, allowing people to view popular live videos from around the globe and view content from their own friends.

The social network expects high-quality, scripted video to become an important feature in retaining users that have increasingly flocked to rival services including Snapchat and Twitter. More importantly, the ability to control and broadcast its own original content will allow it to maintain some content parity with shows from Netflix, YouTube’s growing list of originals, and Hulu’s recent originals.

Monetization will happen through “mid-roll” ads

The profit strategy for Facebook’s approach appears similar to YouTube's hated method of throwing ads into the middle of its original shows, also known as “mid-roll ads”. Sources close to Facebook hint that it has been testing these ads for months in live and recorded videos, giving video publishers the chance to insert ads into clips after they have been watched for more than 20 seconds. The social network plans to sell the ads and share 55 percent of sales with publishers, or the same revenue split currently offered by YouTube. In addition, Zuckerberg has personally spoken against the use of “pre-roll” ads, which play before a clip starts. This will be another key differentiator between Facebook and most other providers in the ad business.

More info may arrive at Cannes Lions festival in June

According to one source, the social network may use the Cannes Lions advertising festival in June to officially introduce its video initiative. However, somebody else said this date could be pushed back later in the summer. There is not much information on what genres Facebook originally intends to release, though one of them is said to come from Conde Nast Entertainment involving people going on first dates in VR before meeting in person.  Here at Fudzilla, we fear the worst, confidently.

Last modified on 09 May 2017
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Read more about: