If pictures of your friends’ posts in your Facebook feed wasn’t annoying enough, imagine seeing them broadcast live. Well, that will soon become a reality.
The social network just announced that a function called Live Video, a.k.a. Facebook’s version of Periscope and Meerkat, is being tested on a “small subset” of U.S. iPhone users before eventually rolling out to everyone. Here’s what its interface looks like:
“Live video streams automatically appear in their friends’ Facebook news feeds, and broadcasts that have concluded are saved in the timeline like any other video,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.
For the past few months, Facebook has tested live video streaming on a smattering of high-profile users, like NBC’s ‘Nightly News’ anchor Lester Holt and Martha Stewart, who used it to answer Thanksgiving questions last week. Even brands, such as Bethenny Frankel’s reduced-calorie food line Skinnygirl, played with it.
Using that exposure from popular and well-followed accounts gives it a larger platform (after all, Facebook boasts 1 billion active users every day) to compete against Meerkat and Twitter-owned Periscope, two services that offer similar capabilities but on a smaller scale.
Coupled with its booming mobile usage, where it makes 78 percent of its total revenue, video is very lucrative for Facebook since it can charge advertisers more to spend on the feature. While there are no immediate plans to sell pre-roll ads on the live streams, it could be tempting option in the future.
Images via Facebook.
-
Cheat Sheet: As Apple preps IDFA crackdown for ‘early spring’, here’s everything you need to know
Despite progress, the ad industry is still unprepared for Apple’s long-awaited crackdown on companies tracking its customers.
-
Publishers push plans to reopen offices until summer, but employees expect delays until 2022
Publishers are pushing back targets for reopening offices this year, and employees are skeptical about returning to their desks soon.
-
Media Briefing: The media industry’s top trends at the moment
To kick off the inaugural Digiday Media Briefing, the Digiday media team has compiled what we see as some of the top trends in the media industry today.
-
SponsoredWhat a content hub can do for marketing teams
In a truly effective marketing team, each team member is aligned, using shared tools and processes to efficiently create, collaborate and connect with their customers. With a content hub, marketers can break down the silos that have traditionally held them back, increasing collaboration in the crucial planning and workflow stages. Implementing this technology will make […]
-
‘Everything was done in stages’: How Covid-19 impacted DoorDash’s first Super Bowl spot
DoorDash had to pivot amid the pandemic to film its first Super Bowl spot that will be part of the eight-year-old apps rebranding.
-
Member ExclusiveDigiday Research: The coronavirus pandemic left marks on publishers’ 2021 revenue plans
While publishers remain focused on direct-sold ads and subscriptions, they seem less focused on diversifying revenue in 2021.
