Dive Brief:
- Facebook’s ongoing focus on video has led to a new prominent location for its Live button, according to Adweek.
- On the mobile app, the "Live" video button now appears where the status button used to appear just under the search tab.
- The new feature makes it very easy for users to live stream video content, a capability that Facebook has been actively promoting.
.@facebook replaces STATUS button at the top of Newsfeed with LIVE. • Having done 150 of 'em, am in, too. #sreeLive pic.twitter.com/iF5DyItaVc
— sree sreenivasan (@sree) August 25, 2016
Dive Insight:
Live streaming video has become a sensation this year, from social media platforms launching new live video capabilities to TV audiences increasingly migrating toward live streams online.
During the Olympic Games, NBC found an audience of close to 50 million watched the games online, with more than 50% of that crowd under 35 years-old. And while Facebook has been aggressively promoting its Live video feature, Twitter is also betting big on live video streaming. Twitter now boasts an impressive line-up of sports and original sports programming via deals with the NFL, NBA, MLB and the NHL, with the centerpiece being a deal to live stream 10 Thursday Night Football games this upcoming season.
While marketers can use live video in other ways, ads may be coming soon to live video, as Facebook has started testing ads on its live streaming video with a select group of brands.
“What you can expect us to do over the next couple months is experiment with a lot of different models that are going to be appropriate for certain creators for certain kinds of formats and try to figure out what works, but really explore a variety of things,” Fidji Sim, Facebook’s video product lead, told an audience at VidCon in June.
