Dive Brief:
- Looking for ways to make the Facebook Live streaming video feature successful, the social media giant is testing real-time ads so brands and publishers can promote live video broadcasts, as reported by Digiday.
- Facebook is also running linear TV and outdoor ads promoting Facebook Live.
- The new real-time ad format on the platform runs on users’ news feeds at the time of the live video broadcast.
Dive Insight:
Live streaming video has become a content focal point on social media with deals in place for live sports and social media active in covering the recent election. Facebook, in particular, has spent the better part of this year promoting its Facebook Live feature, going so far as to make changes to its algorithm to emphasize live video content and treating it as a completely different content type than pre-recorded video. The latest moves, particularly spending its own ad budget on TV and billboard ads promoting Facebook Live, indicate how invested Facebook is on streaming video success.
Brands have been willing to adopt live streaming video as part of an overall content marketing strategy, and the new real-time ad format from Facebook should make it easier to promote streams and grab an audience in the moment when streams are actually live.
Facebook's Instagram Stories recently became the latest platform to integrate live video, making Snapchat one of the few remaining holdouts. Twitter is also a big player in live video and has said it sees this an important area for the company going forward. With Facebook and others also making a concerted push, it is clear that social media sites view a leadership role in live video as an important competitive advantage as consumers' viewing habits continue to migrate online.
