Dive Brief:

• Facebook has signed 140 media companies and celebrities to Facebook Live contracts to help seed the new streaming video feature with professional content. 
• Those video creators will receive a combined total payout of $50 million, according to a document reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
• The Journal reported that Facebook’s live streaming video partners include media companies, such as CNN, the New York Times, Vox Media, Tastemade, Mashable, the Huffington Post, and celebrities, such as Kevin Hart, Gordon Ramsay, Deepak Chopra and NFL quarterback Russell Wilson.

Dive Insight:

Facebook has made video a point of emphasis over the last year, even altering its algorithm to make video content more prominent on users’ news feeds. The platform has been aggressively promoting its Facebook Live streaming video feature, including making an additional algorithm change that considers Facebook Live video a different type of content from standard video when that content is streaming live to give it even higher priority in news feeds.

This emphasis means two things for marketers. First, because Facebook has become so invested in live streaming video, marketers should consider adding it to their video content strategy and test the format out to see if their audience engages with live video. Second, while Facebook doesn’t offer any advertising on Facebook Live content yet, it is very likely to be added if and when it attracts a substantial audience. When that day comes, Facebook Live ads will be another way to reach a real-time audience, not unlike traditional linear TV ad spots.

“We wanted to invite a broad set of partners so we could get feedback from a variety of different organizations about what works and what doesn’t,” Justin Osofsky, Facebook’s vice president of global operations and media partnerships, said in a statement regarding the partnerships.