The social media giant will officially enter the TV-streaming ring.
Facebook is working on an app for television, and has already began to seek out exclusive, TV-like shows for it, in a move only be described as a necessary, yet desperate attempt to tap into the flooded streaming market.
The app underwent preliminary work last summer. It wasn’t until recently, though, that the social media giant decided to speak with media companies about licensing TV-quality shows.
However, no media companies have agreed to the deal as of yet, which is bad news for Facebook’s apparent long-term strategy to make video the center of its offering.
Today, video on Facebook mainly consists of short clips and experimental live streams — both formats that can be difficult to sell advertising revenue against. And for a company that recently admitted to running out of places in the News Feed to insert new ads, the TV app could provide an additional channel for advertisers.
Facebook could potentially sell ads against the shows, which are reported to be 10 minutes in length and consist of sports and scripted shows.
It may not prove to be the new Netflix, but it’s a necessary move for an organization competing with other social media brands that have already created TV-like programming.
Google (with YouTube), Snapchat (with Discover), and Twitter (with its live shows) are all making this play. None of the companies have yet to disarm the traditional cable programming model, but each is receiving ad revenue from their products.
Facebook can conceivably succeed in this realm of creating content for greater ad revenue. But can it succeed as a legitimate television-streaming service?
