Facebook is reportedly gearing up to launch its first TV episodes by mid-August. The social media giant is asking its partners to turn in the first episodes of their spotlight shows.
As per a report by Bloomberg, the company is planning to introduce short-form shows exclusively on its site. The brand is also reported to be funding high-end TV-style shows, which are scheduled to launch later on its website. However, the whole project was originally meant to be ready a month ago, however, “it has taken longer than anticipated and further delays could occur,” sources close to the development told the publication.
The brand was earlier reported to sign a deal with multiple news and entertainment creators like Vox Media, ATTN, Group Nine Media and more to create content in different formats with ad breaks. e social media giant is looking for two-type of video content: long form and short form. The former would consist of scripted shows with episode ranging from 20 to 30 minutes. This type of content will be owned by Facebook. The short form with consist of shorter scripted and unscripted shows with episodes ranging from 5 to 10 minutes. This will not be owned by Facebook, sources familiar with the development told Reuters.
The move is line with company’s ambitious plan to take a head-to-head competition with streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar or even Google-owned YouTube Red. This also means that the company is planning to enter the video first business and want to monetize it through generating more video ad-based revenues. However, it would be interesting to see whether this new video service will be able to give a stiff competition to other streaming giants.