Facebook Launching Paid Subscription Services for Watch Shows

by Administrator 11 replies
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According to an article by Mobile Marketer, Facebook is planning to test paid subscriptions for the first time on it's Watch Platform. They'll apply to on-demand shows and include material from CollegeHumor, Discovery's MotorTrend, the BBC, and selected content from ITV.

Testing is limited to the US and will take place in the next few weeks. Facebook plans to charge monthly fees of $4.99 for CollegeHumor's DropOut, $6.99 for BritBox, $4.99 for MotorTrend and $2.99 for ITV's Tastemade Plus. Subscribers will have access to original content. Facebook will handle payments on behalf of its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) partners and is expected to take a cut of the subscription sales.



Facebook has looked to compete with the Google-owned YouTube by putting out original content. The social network announced that the audience on its Watch platform had grown by 80%, reaching a respectable 720 million monthly users. That figure is based on visitors who spend at least one full minute on the platform and has risen from 400 million in December 2018. In comparison, YouTube reported 2 billion monthly users in May, which is a figure up from 1.9 billion last summer.

Facebook has tried to expand Watch's programming lineup in the past via the sale of subscriptions to streaming services from major cable networks. However, it's not known how far Facebook has progressed in talks with the cable programmers concerned.

What do you guys think about this? Does Facebook have a chance in competing against all these other streaming services like Netflix?
#social media #facebook #launching #paid #service #subscription
  • I think majority of the reason why their viewership has jumped is because people are interested in what their acquitances and family share, not because people just want to flock to FB TV. Now the jump from free, 60 second viral videos to monthly paid subscriptions? I don't see it... Personally, I got rid of Facebook a couple months ago and could never see myself paying for any of their services (minus business ads). Consumer trust is big right now, and that has been in decline for them lately
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  • This is the type of information glut that makes Facebook so unappealing right now. Another subscription service that I have to pay for? We can get this from YouTube for free. I can even see myself paying for YouTube because I know the content creators and the quality of videos I can find. But Facebook hasn't developed that reputation or viewership yet. I think this service is premature, at best.
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    • I agree on this one. The more that Facebook puts out, the less that I use it and at this point messenger is the only feature that is useful to me.
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    • Exactly my thoughts
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  • Netflix and Facebook will not be competitors in the nearest future. Facebook is associated with social media, Netflix with TV shows and streaming services. I can't imagine how hard Facebook should work to compete against Netflix.
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  • Challenging YouTube might be difficult for Facebook, but I strongly feel Facebook can beat paid streaming services.
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  • The content creators and businesses will benefit from this. It's good that facebook is exploring this option as this will create another avenue for content creators and businesses to earn from. Although I prefer youtube as a platform, having just one dominant platform does not help in the long run.

    From a viewers perspective, from consuming free content to paid subscription is a big leap. I donno how many will be willing to pay for it.
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  • Let's know
  • Netflix and Facebook has their own targeted users so I don't see them being competitive with each other. And competing with YouTube is something really hard to do, but the chances of it succeeding I think is small. Sure they can add a new service to their platforms but Netflix and YouTube are in a league of their own.
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    Facebook Launching Paid Subscription Services for Watch Shows

    According to an article by Mobile Marketer, Facebook is planning to test paid subscriptions for the first time on it's Watch Platform. They'll apply to on-demand shows and include material from CollegeHumor, Discovery's MotorTrend, the BBC, and selected content from ITV. Testing is limited to the US and will take place in the next few weeks. Facebook plans to charge monthly fees of $4.99 for CollegeHumor's DropOut, $6.99 for BritBox, $4.99 for MotorTrend and $2.99 for ITV's Tastemade Plus. Subscribers will have access to original content. Facebook will handle payments on behalf of its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) partners and is expected to take a cut of the subscription sales.