The idea of videos on Facebook may make you think of creative recipes or funny pets, but the social networking site has far grander ambitions for its new video platform.
Called Watch, the feature will include short programs along with live events such as Major League Baseball games, the company announced Wednesday.
Facebook already had a video tab but the Watch platform will more closely resemble YouTube, allowing users to discover videos outside their feed and create watchlists. There will also be sections including "Most Talked About" and "What Friends Are Watching."
Watch is rolling out to a small test group of users in the U.S. starting Wednesday and Facebook said it will make the platform available to all U.S. users soon. The company plans to eventually offer thousands of shows, Fidji Simo, Facebook's vice president of news and video, told Recode. Among the first batch is a show in which motivational speaker Gabby Bernstein answers questions from her fans in real time, and one featuring internet celebrity Nas Daily.
Facebook is paying publishers like BuzzFeed to develop some of the shows and will retain the rights to some of them, according to Recode. Additionally, partners who create original content exclusively for Facebook will make 55 percent of revenue from in-video ad breaks, according to TechCrunch.
Source: INC.com
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