What Facebook Inc (FB) Earnings Mean For The Future Of Video And Mobile

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Once again, Facebook Inc (FB) reported some impressive earnings for its most recent quarter. They included adjusted earnings of $1.24 per share, with revenues of $8.8 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2016. The true earnings bested estimates made by Zacks Consensus, which was originally set at $1.11 a share and $8.5 billion in revenue.

Facebook Inc (FB) continues to grow more quickly than many other tech companies, with ad revenue soaring and usage still strong. It leads many to wonder, just what is it doing that warrants this kind of success?

FB: Video and Mobile Get the Credit

The success does have its roots, namely from Facebook Inc (FB)’s mobile and live video efforts as of late.

Mobile optimization is — and always has been — important. We probably don’t need to explain why, with 80 percent of consumers now using a smartphone to browse the web and another 47 percent using a tablet of some kind.

The true contributing factor to Facebook Inc (FB)’s success is its live video rollout, and the fact that it works great on mobile also helps. Instagram, which Facebook acquired back in 2012 for $1 billion, is just one part of that strategy. The visual-centric social platform bought by Facebook Inc (FB) has since become an incredibly lucrative one, with more than 500,000 advertisers now actively participating in the community.

On top of that, Facebook Inc (FB) founder Mark Zuckerberg has laid out plans to bring original content and engaging videos to Facebook, in an effort to do two things. One, it keeps the audience happy and active — who doesn’t love watching videos? Two, it gives marketers and advertisers a platform to spend more money on — and see returns.

This has made it important for company engineers to optimize the social platform for video content, ballooning costs. It’s no wonder Facebook Inc (FB) is looking to recruit engineers, as part of an open hiring spree from the past few years.

But as those costs go up, Facebook’s revenue will begin to level out.

What Does This Trend Mean for 2017?

You know something is a big deal when Facebook Inc (FB) jumps on the bandwagon. Not just that, but the social giant is also making a killing by optimizing for video and live feeds. Where there is success to be had, more businesses are sure to follow. So, what does this trend — a push toward video and live content — mean for the future?

It is paving the way for a completely new and innovative type of creator, one who is willing to open a live feed and interact with their audience freely in real-time. It also means the video and mobile content world will soon be in disarray.

You see, in the past, Google’s YouTube held the monopoly on video influencers, creators and usage. That is no longer the case, especially with Facebook’s new live video feature.

Beyond YouTube and Into the Future

That doesn’t mean YouTube won’t continue to be a driving force. It’s working on plenty of new content and projects of its own. For example, Disney is partnering with YouTube superstar PewDiePie to help him create his own TV network. Another YouTuber, Miranda Sings, signed with Netflix to create her own exclusive content. You’ll quickly notice a lot of this talent is coming directly from YouTube, which will continue to create many stars.

But thanks to platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouNow, Meerkat, and many others, video content — especially live video content — is taking off. The proper term for this kind of content and live feeds is “livestreaming,” which has actually been around for some time — see Twitch, for instance.

The new — disruptive — trend we will see is this content being made available cross-platform, more importantly on mobile. Already, many of these services have mobile apps that allow you to browse and view content from anywhere, anytime.

On-demand content — even user generated — is absolutely the future.

Article by Kayla Matthews

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