Facebook made it abundantly clear during a recent Q4 earnings call that the company plans to focus on short-form content. Facebook sees video as a significant trend and they are actively working on comprehensive video strategies.
Working With Short Form Content:
Facebook plans to generate content on two fronts. They will pay content creators upfront and they will also offer these content creators revenues through ad sharing. According to rumours, Facebook has been in talks with TV studios and is planning to build their own set-top TV box in the future. However, despite these rumours, Facebook makes it clear that at this moment, they aren’t going to dive into the world of funding entire TV shows and films. “Quick clips” are apparently the plan for the foreseeable future, according to Zuckerberg.
Facebook plans to generate content on two fronts. They will pay content creators upfront and they will also offer these content creators revenues through ad sharing. According to rumours, Facebook has been in talks with TV studios and is planning to build their own set-top TV box in the future. However, despite these rumours, Facebook makes it clear that at this moment, they aren’t going to dive into the world of funding entire TV shows and films. “Quick clips” are apparently the plan for the foreseeable future, according to Zuckerberg.
Facebook Embraces Video:
What all of this means is that at the moment, Facebook is more interested in utilizing an approach to content that is similar to what you will find with YouTube. With YouTube, the model is largely built around countless short clips. With Netflix, the focus is obviously on longer TV shows and films. While there is every reason to believe that Facebook will eventually turn their attention to a Netflix approach to content, the immediate future points to the social media giant working with a more YouTube-like approach to content instead.
What all of this means is that at the moment, Facebook is more interested in utilizing an approach to content that is similar to what you will find with YouTube. With YouTube, the model is largely built around countless short clips. With Netflix, the focus is obviously on longer TV shows and films. While there is every reason to believe that Facebook will eventually turn their attention to a Netflix approach to content, the immediate future points to the social media giant working with a more YouTube-like approach to content instead.
Initially, Facebook plans to seed as much content as possible in order to get this “ecosystem’ going. As time goes on, the plan will be to create a foundation that will lead viewers from this content to premium material. The goal is an advertising revenue stream that will compel content creators to continue supplying Facebook with material.
The plan with the new video tab is to essentially change the way people interact with videos while online. Rather than simply wander the landscape of their newsfeed, checking out videos as they appear, the tab is designed to give people the ability to engage their desire to watch content in a more direct fashion.
The long-term business model hopes to bring in a steady stream of episodic content that can be enjoyed over a relatively short amount of time. While the plan has considerations for longer content, Facebook isn’t likely to delve into those possibilities for quite some time.