Facebook rolls out Watch globally

Facebook Watch, a place to discover new videos, save them, interact with creators and publishers you love, converse with friends, fans and creators themselves is going global.

“Today we’re making Facebook Watch available everywhere — giving people around the world a new way to discover great videos and interact with friends, creators and other fans,” said Fidji Simo, Head of Video, in an official blog post.

Facebook launched Watch in the US a year ago to give people a place on Facebook to find shows and video creators they love and to start conversations with friends, other fans, and even creators themselves. Over the past year, Facebook 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. 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 US come to watch videos for at least a minute in Watch — and total time spent watching videos in Watch has increased by 14x since the start of 2018.

As we now make Watch available to everyone around the world, here’s what it has to offer:

• A place to discover new videos: Find the latest videos spanning entertainment, sports, news and more — all in your personalized Watch feed.
• A way to catch up with creators and publishers you love: At the top of your Watch feed you’ll see your Watchlist, a collection of recent videos from Pages you follow. Customize this section by following more Pages or removing Pages from your follow list within Watch.
• A home for your saved videos: If you see a video in News Feed but don’t have time to watch it right away, you can save it to watch later in Watch.
• Videos you can participate in: Facebook is 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. And Facebook will make it easier to find live videos so you can discuss the big moments as they’re happening.

Also Read: Facebook tests ‘things in common label’ feature to link strangers

Taking Watch global also means new opportunities for creators and publishers around the world. Facebook is expanding Ad Breaks program so more partners can make money from their videos, and offering new insights, tools and best practices for Pages in Creator Studio.

To access Watch on iOS and Android, look for the Watch icon in your shortcuts bar or the “More” bookmark. You can also find Watch on Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One, and Oculus TV.

Comments