2018 was a big year for Facebook Watch. Watch launched to every country around the world, the platform opened to videos from all Pages, and we debuted dozens of Facebook Originals. Amazing new content on Watch really got people talking — 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. We also kick-started our slate of global shows with our first interactive game show Confetti expanding to six new markets this year and MTV’s The Real World arriving in the US, Mexico, and Thailand in 2019. And creators around the world, like Nas Daily, Jay Shetty, and Laura Clery, are thriving on the platform with their unique brands of humor, insight, and creativity.
Three months since Facebook’s global launch, there are already more than 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. We’re seeing that people are regularly coming back to catch up on the videos they care about and watching for longer periods of time. In this post, we’re sharing more details on our video strategy and a range of new updates for Watch.
Building watch for conversation, community & connections
We know that people have a range of video offerings available to them, but 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. Watching video has always been a social experience, but as people increasingly watch video online, it has become more solitary. With Facebook Watch, we set out to demonstrate what it looks like to build deep bonds through watching online video, instead of just having a passive viewing experience.
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. Since the Summer we have been working to bring Watch Party to everyone on Facebook. We’ve seen it really take off — there have been more than 12 million Watch Parties in Groups alone, and Watch Parties garner eight times more comments than regular videos in Groups.
We’re also working to unify the video experience across Facebook. Right now, people can find videos on Facebook in a number of different places — Watch, News Feed, Search, Pages and more — and all of these can feel different. We want to make the experience of watching video feel immersive no matter where you discovered it. As part of this effort, we’ll be testing a few things in the coming months, like creating a darker background whenever you immerse yourself into a video on mobile, unifying these different viewing experiences under one.
And today we’re sharing that people can now find Watch on more surfaces. In August, we rolled out Watch globally on mobile, and from today, Watch is now available around the world on desktop and on Facebook Lite.
Creating more opportunities for our partners
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.
We’re also exploring new opportunities for advertisers. In September, we introduced In-Stream Reserve for premium online video and TV buyers to deliver their ads alongside the highest-quality Watch content, and next year we will continue to provide advertisers with more options to tailor their video ad campaigns and connect with their target audience.
In all this, we’ve learned that for monetization products to work, they must balance the unique needs of video creators, people, and advertisers, providing value for all parties. Next year we will continue focusing on enhancing these tools to enable publishers and creators to generate meaningful revenue from their engaged, loyal audiences on Facebook.
Investing in original content that sparks conversations
As we move into 2019, we will continue funding Originals, and we’re delighted to announce the renewal of four shows for a second season: Huda Boss, Five Points, Sacred Lies, and Sorry For Your Loss. These shows all cultivated deeply engaged fan bases who came for the episodes, but stayed for the conversations — and are a great example of what can happen when content and community come together seamlessly.
Fidji Simo
Fidji Simo, Head of Video, Facebook
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