“Facebook Inc. is loosening its purse strings in its drive to become a major hub for video,” Deepa Seetharaman reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The social-media giant is willing to spend as much as $1 billion to cultivate original shows for its platform, according to people familiar with matter. The figure, which could fluctuate based on the success of Facebook’s programming, covers potential spending through 2018, one of the people said.”
“The investment would far outpace Facebook’s previous outlays on video content, including its live-video deals last year. It also signals Facebook’s readiness to spend more than before to become what Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg calls a ‘video-first’ platform,” Seetharaman reports. “Facebook’s thirst for video content pits it against traditional broadcasters such as Time Warner Inc.’s HBO and deep-pocketed tech companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc., which all are banking on video to capture the fleeting attention of users and seize billions of dollars in advertising that is expected to migrate from television to digital video. Apple Inc. is preparing its own billion-dollar war chest for content.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: No company is as deep-pocketed as Apple, certainly not the Facebook, the ‘narcissists-first’ platform.
We haven’t had personal FaceBook accounts for many years now. And happily so. — MacDailyNews, May 11, 2017
Beyond the privacy aspect, Facebook is Creepster Central. It’s a Narcissists’ Paradise. In general, yuck. — MacDailyNews, March 27, 2015
SEE ALSO:
Young people are leaving Facebook – August 22, 2017
If you haven’t already, it’s time to remove Facebook from your life – May 11, 2017
How to delete your online existence, while saving your data – March 1, 2017
Free ‘Data Selfie’ tool reveals how creepy Facebook tracks and studies your activity – February 17, 2017
Facebook begins tracking non-users around the internet – May 27, 2016
Former Facebook workers: We routinely suppressed conservative news – May 9, 2016
FCC won’t force Google and Facebook to stop tracking you – November 6, 2015
European Commission: Don’t use Facebook if you don’t want to be spied on – March 27, 2015
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Tim Berners-Lee: You should own your personal data, not Google, Facebook, Amazon, and advertisers – October 8, 2014
Facebook conducts massive psychology experiment on 700,000 unaware users, and you may have been a guinea pig – June 28, 2014
Why Apple really values your privacy – unlike Google, Facebook, or Amazon – June 25, 2014
U.S. NSA used Facebook to hack into computers – March 12, 2014
How to permanently delete your Facebook account – December 16, 2013
Study finds link between number of Facebook friends and ‘socially disruptive’ narcissism – April 10, 2012
It’s getting to the point that there’s almost too much original content. Tiring to keep track of what’s worth watching and how to get it. I don’t use Facebook, have no intention of using it, there content will have to be pretty damn compelling. I think Sport is going to be the most compelling driver of any of these services. In the UK if you want Premier League football you have to get Sky or BT, or both. In doing so you essentially get a load of other services all of which provide a load of decent content. It’s getting to the point where there aren’t enough hours in the day, so why pay for more and more services you can’t fully use?
Amazingly, Facebook market cap is bigger than Amazon.
I think Mark needs to give attention to his new baby (child)…something important.
Video programming has been about knowing your consumer (e.g. Neilsen surveys, user view data), in that sense with the same amount of cash invested in their respective projects, FB may have a greater edge by not being constrained as tightly as Apple through their respective Privacy policies.
Propaganda is getting expensive.