Facebook Taking Watch Video Service Global

The Facebook Watch service is being rolled out globally, with the move coming a year after its U.S. debut.

“Over the past year, we’ve made the experience more social—like making it easier to see which videos your friends have liked or shared, creating shows that have audience participation at their core, and opening Watch to videos from pages,” explained Fidji Simo, Facebook’s head of video, in a blog post. “These updates have helped people discover and engage more deeply with videos they love—from Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith to beauty mogul Huda Kattan’s behind-the-scenes show Huda Boss to live Major League Baseball games. Every month, more than 50 million people in the U.S. come to watch videos for at least a minute in Watch—and total time spent watching videos in Watch has increased by 14-times since the start of 2018.”

Facebook is aiming to turn the Watch platform into a global destination to discover new videos, as well as to catch up with creators and publishers. Also, if users see a video in their News Feed but don’t have time to watch it right away, they can save it to watch later in Watch.

Facebook is also building new video experiences that put “people at the center,” giving them the ability to shape the direction of the content. “Over time you’ll be able to find new video experiences in your Watch feed, like Watch Parties, premieres and videos focused on audience participation—like the new trivia game show Confetti,” said Simo. “And we’ll make it easier to find live videos so you can discuss the big moments as they’re happening.

“Taking Watch global also means new opportunities for creators and publishers around the world. We’re expanding our ad breaks program so more partners can make money from their videos, and we’re offering new insights, tools and best practices for pages in Creator Studio.”