People still don't know what Facebook Watch is. Facebook doesn't seem sure either.

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People still don't know what Facebook Watch is. Facebook doesn't seem sure either.

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If you don’t know what Facebook Watch is by now ... don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Facebook is changing strategies for its video service, Facebook Watch, by pulling back on original scripted content, according to a report from The Information. Facebook is also reportedly giving up on acquiring streaming rights to big sporting events for the service.

So I saw an ad for Facebook Watch. What is it? Like...do I check into a show or something? Does it have running commentary like Facebook Live? So confused...

— Nikki Ticzon (@nikkictee) October 27, 2019

The social media giant's video platform has yet to define exactly what it is, confusing Facebook's massive user base in the process. Part of the problem? While the service is accessible as a tab on Facebook's menu, there is no standalone Facebook Watch platform — unlike YouTube, which is owned by Google. There is also no Facebook Watch mobile app, or a channel to stream Watch content through set top boxes, such as Roku.

Mashable reported on a lot of these issues nearly one year ago. Last June, Facebook touted that 140 million people watched the video service daily. However, with more than 2 billion users on Facebook, it’s clear many of its users don’t know what Facebook Watch is.

During the company's Q4 earnings call on Wednesday, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly mentioned Facebook Watch. He indicated that it's not meant as a standalone service, but a feature that added value to Facebook. 

"Things like Watch ... that we had started rolling out are not things that we expect everyone to use," said Zuckerberg. "But even if tens or hundreds of millions of people use them, then we're adding unique value that other folks might not be able to build, and we're making the app more valuable."

When Zuckerberg was asked about video strategy, he explained how people watch a lot of video content on the Facebook News Feed. According to the Facebook founder, this was "displacing" the core of the service: social interactions and connecting with other users. Watch, he said, was built to give users a centralized place on the platform to watch video.

"In order to fully meet the needs that people have for video, we started creating the separate tab, Watch, and that's been growing quickly as well," stated Zuckerberg."You can think about the content acquisition that we do there as more along the lines of either marketing or bringing new people into the experience. We're not building out a subscription service or anything like that around this."

Facebook plans on upping its previous $1 billion content budget for the service to $1.4 billion for the year, according to The Information. However, instead of producing more original scripted programming, the company reportedly intends on putting the money toward cheaper original talk shows and licensing clips from network television and major sports leagues. 

This type of content fits with the vision Zuckerberg laid out in the earnings call, seeing as these are the types of videos already commonly found in News Feed.

Actress Jessica Biel, who stars in the Facebook Watch series, Limetown, even posted about the lack of awareness surrounding Facebook Watch on Instagram last November.

“My face when people are STILL asking how to watch @limetownstories on @facebookwatch. JK it’s real confusing,” she posted along with a still from the show. She followed up by informing her fans that a direct link to the show was in her Instagram bio.

Last week, Deadline reported that Facebook was cancelling Limetown, along with its highest profile original scripted series, Sorry For Your Loss, starring Elizabeth Olsen.

Branding isn't the only problem plaguing Watch, though. Facebook initially partnered with a number of online creators, some of which had success on the platform. However, one common complaint from many of those monetizing their content on Facebook Watch is that revenue from the service is "underwhelming." Facebook Watch was simply paying out less to content creators than its main competitor, YouTube.

Since Facebook Watch launched in 2017, the service has grappled with cementing itself as a video entity separate yet connected to Facebook’s main product. Maybe Facebook will finally figure out how to promote Facebook Watch this year, but until then, it's probably going to continue to confuse users.

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via Mashable https://ift.tt/2DCFv97

January 30, 2020 at 01:05PM