Just three months after Facebook Watch was launched globally, the video platform has garnered over 400 million people monthly and 75 million people daily who spend at least one minute on Watch. And on average, these 75 million daily visitors spend more than 20 minutes in Watch.
The platform opened to videos from all Pages, and the company also debuted dozens of Facebook Originals. From Jada Pinkett Smith’s breakout talk show Red Table Talk, to the critically acclaimed dramas Sorry For Your Loss starring Elizabeth Olsen and Sacred Lies from showrunner Raelle Tucker, to live LaLiga football matches in the Indian subcontinent – 2018 was a big year for Watch.
While watching videos and originals has always been a social experience, Watch is more than just library of videos -- it’s a place where people can follow video creators they care about, start conversations about videos with friends, and build communities of fans who share their interests.
“The ability to connect more deeply around content is what sets the video experience on Facebook apart. We learned with Facebook Live how powerful it is when people can connect with each other around videos in real time, and we’ve been building new video formats and features that capture the togetherness of Live. In the coming months, we’re focused on bringing more of these social experiences to Watch, making it easier to find and watch videos together with friends,” said Fidji Simo, Head of Video at Facebook.
Facebook Watch is now available around the world on desktop and on Facebook Lite, apart from mobile. The company is also expanding their Ad Breaks to eligible pages to over 40 countries around the world – giving more ways to creators to monetise videos.
“In 2019, we will continue to expand the ways publishers and creators can make money on Facebook. We’ll bring Ad Breaks to video creators in more countries around the world, and will test new Ad Breaks placements, like in livestreams from gaming creators. We want to bring Brand Collabs Manager to more countries to help match brands and creators for sponsorship deals, and will be expanding our fan subscriptions test,” added Simo.
