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Facebook Watch goes global

Facebook Watch on mobile

Social media giant Facebook has begun rolling out its Watch video platform to the international market, a year after the service launched in the US.

Facebook Watch, which harnesses the social interaction of its parent site, will be available to all countries around the world by tomorrow.

Additionally, Facebook has announced the international roll-out of Ad Breaks, which allow creators to make money by inserting ads into their content.

Already in use in the US, the monetisation provision will initially be extended to the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, with a further 21 countries, including France, Colombia, Sweden and Thailand, added in September.

Launched in the US last August, Watch offers originally commissioned and third-party shows, allowing users to start conversations with friends, other fans and the content creators themselves. It also lets users save videos for future viewing, and uses their interests to catalogue content they might want to watch.

Facebook has steadily been building up its original programming slate for the platform with titles including Skam Austin, an English-language version of Norwegian teen drama Skam (Shame), from Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.

Jada Pinkett Smith-fronted talkshow Red Table Talk and reality docuseries Huda Boss have also been unveiled. Other series in the works include 10-episode comedy Queen America with Catherine Zeta-Jones and docuseries Big Chicken Shaq, with basketball star Shaquille O’Neal.

Making the announcement, Facebook’s Fidji Simo, VP of product (video, games and advertising in news feed), and Matthew Henick, head of content planning and strategy, media partnerships, said Watch stands apart from its competitors because its “video isn’t just a passive experience, we’re building tools and working with partners to build a more active experience.”

The execs did not give specifics in terms of budgets or how many shows they would commission, but said they would be looking to put a range of genres of “broad appeal” on the platform – with commissioned and non-commissioned content sitting together – including global and localised content with subtitles.

“People have a variety of things they follow throughout the years, including niche creators they care deeply about and want to see in Watch,” said Simo. “We have seen that shows that tend to rely heavily on what’s unique about Facebook – the interactivity, the community – do way better.”

Responding to a question from C21, Henick said they would consider working with both traditional and digital-first companies in the future, with the platform having demonstrated that there is “a variety of partners who can make that type of content.”

“We will both be looking to work with the more traditional partners in the world like an Endemol Shine or an individual creator who’s able to tell a story that maybe is scripted but still very native and organic to their audience,” he said.

Henick added that the firm would continue “evolving our funding content strategy” to ensure creators would be able to make money. Currently, to be eligible for Ad Breaks, users have to have made three-minute-plus videos that have generated more than 30,000 one-minute views in total in the preceding two months, and must have 10,000 Facebook followers. Henick said commissioning would factor into Facebook’s funding strategy.

“Over the past year, we have funded a number of original shows for Watch and many have found strong, engaged audiences,” he added. “We will continue investing in some original shows and we will really lean into supporting a wide range of amazing video content from creators and publishers around the world to help our partners find success with their videos.”

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