Today the New York Times reported that a behind-the-scenes video posted on Beyonce’s Facebook page garnered 2.4 million views, while the same video posted on YouTube garnered just a few thousand views in the same time. Facebook might just be the only media company that can threaten YouTube’s reign over online video.
In recent months Facebook’s video viewership has grown to about 1.3 billion views per day, two thirds of which take place on mobile devices. That’s a 50% increase in video views from May to July, Facebook said. Facebook also added several “You-Tube like” features for video, including improved video ranking in users’ Newsfeeds and the ability to insert call-to-actions in native videos. Soon, users will be able to see how many views a video on Facebook has received and get recommendations for related videos. Read more about the planned features on Facebook’s business blog.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge further cemented Facebook’s power to spread online video. Facebook said more than 17 million videos related to the challenge were shared on its service between June 1 and September 1.
Still, Facebook has a ways to go to catch up to YouTube, which had over 4 billion video views per day as of December 2013.
Further reading:
- ‘Facebook’s Feeds Give Videos a Boost’ via the New York Times
- ‘Facebook Adds YouTube-Like Video Features, as It Tops 1 Billion Daily Views’ via Variety
- ‘YouTube Statistics’ via Statistic Brain
- ‘What the Growth of Video on Facebook Means for Businesses’ via Facebook for business blog
-Posted by Elizabeth Pace–
aspiringCMO 