Facebook Watch Brings Original Shows To Social Media Giant On TV, Mobile And PC
Shows that fans can check out on Watch can be live or recorded, and will follow a theme or storyline according to Facebook. Watch will feature a Watchlist to help you keep up with all the shows you enjoy. There are personalization options inside Watch that let users find new shows to view focused on what your friends and communities are tuning in to. Categories for finding content include sections such as "Most Talked About" for shows that have gone viral on Facebook.
A "What's making People Laugh" category will list shows that people have used the "haha" reaction to describe. A category called "What Friends Are Watching" is pretty much self explanatory. Each of the shows will have its own Facebook Group to make it easy for people to talk about what they watch.
Facebook writes, "Watch is a platform for all creators and publishers to find an audience, build a community of passionate fans, and earn money for their work."
Reports indicate that Facebook is placing ads into the shows on Watch and that it takes 45 percent of all ad revenue and the creator gets the remainder. Facebook adds, "We’ll be introducing Watch to a limited group of people in the U.S. and plan to bring the experience to more people soon. Similarly, we’ll be opening up Shows to a limited group of creators and plan to roll out to all soon."
It's not clear how this small group of users is being chosen, but presumably it's random. There is no clear indication of when the Watch feature will roll out to more users.
"We think Watch will be home to a wide range of shows, from reality to comedy to live sports. To help inspire creators and seed the ecosystem, we’ve also funded some shows that are examples of community-oriented and episodic video series. For example, Returning the Favor is a series hosted by Mike Rowe where he finds people doing something extraordinary for their community, tells the world about it, and in turn does something extraordinary for them."
