Facebook Pushes For Live Video, Pays Media Houses Millions to Use

The social networking giant is doing everything to make sure media houses use its video platform.

Facebook’s really keen to pump its Live Video to top media houses. (Photo Courtesy: Facebook)

The video battle has truly begun, with the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr and Twitter making their push. But not many of us know that the intense level of competition is forcing brands to splurge, so that media houses use them.

Facebook has done exactly that. According to reports, Facebook will pay over $50 million to video creators. It will partner with media bigwigs like BuzzFeed, CNN, New York Times, Vox, Mashable and Huffington Post.

Celebrities like Deepak Chopra, actor-comedian Kevin Hart and top chef Gordon Ramsay are also in it to earn big.

We wanted to invite a broad set of partners so we could get feedback from a variety of different organisations about what works and what doesn’t.

<b> Justin Osofsky, Vice President - Global Operations and Media Partnerships, Facebook </b>

Facebook, during its quarterly earnings call recently, announced that its users watch 100 million hours of video each day and that 500 million people watch video daily on the social network.

Facebook is also said to be testing the ability to share live videos on the networking site for people across the world. The report also goes on to highlight the amount of money being paid to media houses:

Money Paid by Facebook to use Live Video

• BuzzFeed: $3.05 million
• New York Times: $3.03 million
• CNN: $2.5 million

The first reports about Facebook paying media companies and celebrities to create live video were out in March this year.

(With agency inputs)