Facebook has done it again–at least, it?s about to. The social media juggernaut is notorious for forward-thinking strategies such as acquiring Instagram and Oculus VR and launching live videostreaming. It?s never been the platform that rests on its laurels. Now, it stands at the forefront of a video revolution.
The explosion of Facebook Live hints at its potential for broadcasting major events and engaging viewers in ways standard channels struggle to do. Imagine online access to the Super Bowl streamed through a Facebook TV application that connects to users? big screens.
Facebook can bypass not only traditional providers, but also services such as Netflix and Amazon, when it comes to widespread distribution and advertising opportunities. The race for eyes and inventory
Facebook isn?t the only social platform in the live video race. Twitter competed aggressively with Facebook for the rights to stream Thursday Night Football in partnership with the National Football League, and such face-offs will occur more often as sports franchises re-evaluate their cable contracts.
Most are locked in through 2022 as a result of negotiations that happened in 2010 and 2011, when Facebook didn?t have video and Netflix was only testing digital streaming. The landscape was different then, but in a few years, I predict that social and streaming services will be in the mix for those agreements.
In the fragmented world of video consumption, sports viewership seems to be the only steady...