Social Media Video Streaming Service

Facebook Watch video service launches worldwide.

19:36 08 September 2018

Just a year after it was launched in the United States, Facebook’s Watch video-streaming service is being rolled out worldwide, the giant social media network has confirmed.

 

The service provides users the freedom to choose from a range of shows – from both new players and established brands – and enable them to view clips saved from their newsfeeds.

 

Currently, only select publishers are given the opportunity to be featured on advertising breaks. However, this opportunity might be offered to all content creators in the future as long as they hit certain metrics. At the moment, only videos shown to audiences in the UK, US, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have access to this facility.

 

Many have viewed Watch as a direct competition to Google’s YouTube. However, it is also designed to compete against Netflix, Amazon Video, BBC iPlayer and even Instagram TV, which Facebook also owns.

 

A recent study has found that the service had niche appeal in its first year in the US. A survey confirms that of 1,632 adult Facebook users, half had never heard of the service, 24per cent have heard of it but only 14per cent have used it at least once a week. The research also shows that although the service has managed to attract millions of users, Facebook often struggled to retain them.

 

 

"This seems to be a pattern with most Facebook Watch shows: lots of people sample, few return," wrote Verne Gay for Newsday.