Facebook has slowly been building up its lineup of live events streamed on Facebook. Similar to Twitter’s move last year, Facebook is looking to expand its ad revenue by offering live content to attract more views.
Recently Facebook has gotten into some high profile bidding wars for sports from leagues such as the NFL and MLB. Facebook faced off with companies such as Twitter, Amazon, and Verizon, and in the case of the NFL rights was outbid when Amazon agreed to pay $50 million to air 10 NFL Thursday night football games on Amazon Prime.
Now Facebook has decided to refocus its spending away from live sports in favor of other content. “The long-term goal is actually not to be paying for specific content like that,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
It is unclear exactly what Facebook plans to move into, but there is a wide range of options other than paying for major sports leagues including smaller sports options and scripted content.
Facebook seems committed to its video push. Facebook for some time has had a Roku app, but recently added apps for Apple TV and Fire TV. Facebook has also opened up its ad service for streaming services to inject ads into its content.
For now Facebook and many other companies seem to still be trying to figure out how to expand into the demand for live TV online.
Source: Bloomberg
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