• Facebook champions EMEA content creators
  • Watch has more than 400 million monthly users
  • Users favour Facebook Stories for “meaningful” connections

Facebook has revealed a new strategy for its Watch video service, including an expansion of its revenue channels and creative opportunities for video creators. 

Facebook Watch was introduced in 2017

Facebook Watch was introduced in 2017

Source: Facebook

In a move to support EMEA and global content creators, Facebook has developed a fan subscriptions model allowing audiences to support their favourite video creators with a small monthly reoccurring payment in exchange for special rewards and exclusive content.

Facebook director of media partnerships EMEA Patrick Walker shared the news during his keynote at Vidcon in London today where he spoke about the company’s creator strategy and priorities for 2019.

He said: “Our creator community in EMEA continues to bloom on Facebook, and supporting creators remains core to our company mission.

“They follow their passions and create awesome videos that inspire millions of people, building vibrant communities of fans globally.”

Kick starting the strategy in Europe, Facebook will test the new revenue model in the UK, Spain, Germany and Portugal as well as making Brand Collabs Manager available to all countries in Europe.

Brand Collabs Manager enables advertisers or brands to find and collaborate with creators for Facebook branded content opportunities.

Walker highlighted the success Watch has seen in the last five months since it was launched, citing more than 400 million engaged users monthly and 75 million active users daily, spending a minimum of one minutes on the Watch platform.

He added: “On average, these 75 million daily visitors spend more than 20 minutes in Watch, we’ve also seen that people come to Watch with a high intention, watching for 5x longer compared to when they watch videos in News Feed.”

Facebook’s newest video tools are centred on the idea of interactivity with features including polling and gamification tools enabling creators to get insights from fans to guide their storytelling or to create gameshow-style formats.

“Outside of Watch, we see consumer behaviour shifting to Stories, both on Facebook and Instagram,” Walker explained.

Facebook product director Daniel Danker spoke to IBC TV in 2017.

“We think stories are an integral part of any creator’s content strategy as they can reach more of their audience using a combination of stories and video than they can with video alone.

“The stories superpower is making engaging with a community simple: creators can go live in Facebook Stories, post stories to their group, or use creative features like Lip Sync Live, masks, and polls within their stories.”

The Facebook community is one built on interactivity, recognising this Walker explained the power of video and the necessity for audiences to engage with content even when the camera stops rolling to allow a deeper connection and experience with fans.

At the end of last year Facebook expanded Watch Party to Pages, enabling creators on Facebook to invite their community of fans to watch videos together and talk about it in real-time.

“We’re continuing to see this feature take off with more than 12 million Watch Parties in groups since last year,” Walker said.

Among other news Facebook has created opportunities for “meaningful revenue” for its video creators now offering a portfolio of options to make money on Facebook in a customised way.

As of today, Ad Breaks are available in 41 countries around the world allowing audiences to seek out brand safe content and an effective way for creators to monetise with more than 40% of videos actively using ad breaks in EMEA.

Walker concluded that Facebook’s mission remains to drive meaningful connection and champion engaging content, “by giving creators the tools they want to build their community and boost their business.”