Video streaming is becoming one of the favored ways of consuming content for people, and the fact that data pack prices are being reduced every day catering to more and more customers, it is now a real huge potential market. And now, we have one more option to choose from. Our beloved social media platform Facebook is one of the most visited sites in the world today, where people keep going time and again to get their share of news.
The company has now announced a new feature called Watch which is in fact a streaming platform, and this is something that will give people now more and newer reason to visit the website dearly. The company of course is hopeful that it will provide original content to consumer for its viewers, widening the customer base. Watch is expected be available to access on mobile phones, laptops, PCs and even smart TVs – however the platforms were not exactly mentioned at the launch announcement. You would be now able to subscribe and keep up with your favorite content on Watch under the section Watchlist, which is something that one of the original streaming sites YouTube also lets one do.
The company has reportedly said that they were introducing Watch as a new platform for shows on Facebook, and it would be available on phones, laptops, desktops, and TV apps. The shows that are going to be streamed on Watch would have episodes which can be either live or recorded depending on the show creator. Watch would feature a Watchlist to help users subscribe and keep up with the shows they like and don’t want to miss out on.
The statement further read that Watch is customised so a user can come across new shows as per his/her likes and interests. It also will make it easy for the user to organize whatever they want to watch and discover what others in their social circles are watching. Watch is going to have sections like Most Talked About, which is going to feature shows that have garnered the most conversation. Similar sections like this will inform you about shows that are making people go ROFL or whatever people in your friend list are watching.
Anyone, who has been on Facebook, knows what a hit its Facebook Live has been. The feature lets one comment and react to a video that is being telecast (is that the right word?) live, which means that the video basically is getting impacted by the comments and reactions, growing outwards. The company then went on to add that in the case of Watch as well, users again would be able to watch, browse through comments, comment themselves to react to the show or the comments other people like their friends have done, or even participate in a Facebook group dedicated to a specific show.
Watch, thus, is very much going to make the difference between live and recorded videos cease, which could actually be a very interesting thing to observe. As far as the comments go, many YouTubers can tell you the crazy times when commenters just go hayward. In such a case, it would definitely make an interesting case study to see how people react to shows and how Facebook will take on the moderation problems that are going to come with it.
Watch is going to feature programs financed by Facebook as well other videos from creators all over the world. Facebook has in fact included shows from Nas Daily (daily videos with fans from a content creator), Kitchen Little (featuring kids cooking with professional chefs), etc. In fact the company has already achieved a deal with Major League Baseball to broadcast one live game every week on Watch.
This feature is going to help Facebook earn bigger bucks if it is able to retain viewers. Given that the company has almost saturated the feature of ads, it would be interesting to see what happens to Watch as no one knows if user on Facebook would welcome the idea of longer videos. On the other hand, this is going to pose a big threat to other online streaming portals like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. The feature gets launched with forty original shows on this 28th August. Let us know in comments below if you are excited to begin.
