Facebook Intensifies Hunt for TV-Like Video Programming

By Deepa Seetharaman and Jack Marshall 

Facebook Inc.'s plans for video programming are starting to come into focus.

Executives for the social media giant are soliciting pitches for TV-like original programming in about half a dozen genres, including sports, science, pop culture, lifestyle, gaming and teens, people familiar with the matter said.

The company is mainly interested in weekly series, with episodes lasting up to 30 minutes. One genre Facebook isn't interested in for this initiative: hard news, a fact that is rankling some news organizations which already publish video to Facebook's platform and view it as a growth area.

Facebook has signaled it is willing to pay for some shows, and can offer a "premium digital rate" for scripted content or roughly low- to mid-six figures per episode, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. High budget TV shows from the likes of Netflix or major TV networks cost in the range of several million dollars per episode.

The push on original programming is being led by CollegeHumor founder Ricky Van Veen, who joined Facebook last year. Beyond licensing payments for some content, Mr. Van Veen's team is promising creators a cut of the ad revenue and a prominent spot within the newly launched video tab in the Facebook mobile app, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook has referred to the feature as "Spotlight" in the discussions.

Facebook declined to comment.

Details of Facebook's video acquisition efforts were reported earlier by Digiday.

The video content plans are part of Facebook's broader efforts to change how people use the platform and lure ad dollars that marketers generally spend on television.

Today, users check Facebook whenever they have a spare moment and stumble across videos in their feed. By offering content that can only be found on Facebook, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is hoping its two billion monthly users will start turning to the platform more often and for longer periods, as they would TV.

Besides launching the new video tab, a home for TV-like content, Facebook also launched an Apple TV app which it described as a way for consumers to "sit back, relax, and enjoy Facebook videos" on their TV sets.

Facebook, which has been hit with criticism in recent months over alleged liberal bias and being a conduit for fake news, is avoiding hard news altogether for its latest video initiative, the people familiar with the matter said. News organizations have been the major partners for Facebook on its separate live video project. Facebook has paid news organizations like the New York Times and CNN millions of dollars to broadcast live video on the platform.

At a separate set of meetings last month with Facebook, some news publishers expressed concerns about Facebook's latest video strategy, people familiar with the meetings said. Mr. Van Veen didn't attend.

According to executives briefed on Facebook's video plans, the social network now views the News Feed as a home for shorter, news-focused content, and as a tool to drive viewers to the video tab to access longer content.

The News Feed might feature short video clips or teaser trailers designed to drive users to long-form content, for example.

Write to Deepa Seetharaman at [e-mail] and Jack Marshall at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 03, 2017 09:40 ET (14:40 GMT)

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