Facebook officially announced the launch of its Watch feature in 2017. However, even after a span of more than two years, not many users are aware of its use. In fact, if you also don’t know what ‘Watch’ is, you are not alone!
Initially, Facebook introduced the Watch video service to showcase original scripted content, in both – long and short forms. However, recent news by The Information confirms that the social media giant is planning to pull back on many of its original content. Reportedly, Facebook is also giving up bidding on live sporting events.
Unfortunately, the recent change in strategy is confusing the massive user base of Facebook. Additionally, the Watch is available as a tab on Facebook’s menu. This means that there is no standalone platform for the service like YouTube offers. Lack of mobile app and/or a channel to stream the content on Watch also makes many users reluctant.
The same concerns were reported to Facebook nearly a year ago by media outlets. At that time, the social media giant had responded that over 140 million users are logging into their video service daily. However, Facebook is home to nearly 2.5 billion monthly active users. This clearly signifies that the majority is not aware of the feature offered by Facebook.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg also briefly mentioned Facebook Watch during its Q4 earnings call and said that the feature is meant to enhance the value of its flagship app – and not as a standalone app.
He further added that the primary motive to add Facebook Watch feature was to give the users a centralized platform to watch videos. He also explained that this would limit the users from watching videos on their Facebook News Feed and keep the former for social interaction – like it was comprehended for. Facebook is trying hard to give tough time to YouTube with its Watch tab, but it appears the social media behemoth needs a lot of time to really come forward as a strong competitor to Google-owned video hosting platform.
Facebook will be increasing its previous $1 billion content budget to $1.4 this year. However, the company claims to invest more effort and resources on original talk shows and licensing clips from network television as well as sports league.
Actress Jessica Biel also took to her Instagram handle and complained about the lack of awareness surrounding Facebook Watch. She said that many of her friends find it difficult to catch her series Limetown that is being published on the Facebook Watch service due to naivety.
Facebook also decided to cancel Limetown along with another series, "Sorry for your Loss" that stars Elizabeth Olsen.
Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild also tried to partner with online creators for original content. However, the majority of the creators complained that Facebook Watch was paying them very less when compared to YouTube.
Read next: Changes Come to Facebook Messenger Kids Following Security Concerns
Initially, Facebook introduced the Watch video service to showcase original scripted content, in both – long and short forms. However, recent news by The Information confirms that the social media giant is planning to pull back on many of its original content. Reportedly, Facebook is also giving up bidding on live sporting events.
Unfortunately, the recent change in strategy is confusing the massive user base of Facebook. Additionally, the Watch is available as a tab on Facebook’s menu. This means that there is no standalone platform for the service like YouTube offers. Lack of mobile app and/or a channel to stream the content on Watch also makes many users reluctant.
The same concerns were reported to Facebook nearly a year ago by media outlets. At that time, the social media giant had responded that over 140 million users are logging into their video service daily. However, Facebook is home to nearly 2.5 billion monthly active users. This clearly signifies that the majority is not aware of the feature offered by Facebook.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg also briefly mentioned Facebook Watch during its Q4 earnings call and said that the feature is meant to enhance the value of its flagship app – and not as a standalone app.
He further added that the primary motive to add Facebook Watch feature was to give the users a centralized platform to watch videos. He also explained that this would limit the users from watching videos on their Facebook News Feed and keep the former for social interaction – like it was comprehended for. Facebook is trying hard to give tough time to YouTube with its Watch tab, but it appears the social media behemoth needs a lot of time to really come forward as a strong competitor to Google-owned video hosting platform.
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
Facebook will be increasing its previous $1 billion content budget to $1.4 this year. However, the company claims to invest more effort and resources on original talk shows and licensing clips from network television as well as sports league.
Actress Jessica Biel also took to her Instagram handle and complained about the lack of awareness surrounding Facebook Watch. She said that many of her friends find it difficult to catch her series Limetown that is being published on the Facebook Watch service due to naivety.
Facebook also decided to cancel Limetown along with another series, "Sorry for your Loss" that stars Elizabeth Olsen.
Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild also tried to partner with online creators for original content. However, the majority of the creators complained that Facebook Watch was paying them very less when compared to YouTube.
Read next: Changes Come to Facebook Messenger Kids Following Security Concerns
