Facebook would like you to know of Facebook Live if you do not know it yet. According to The Wall Street Journal, by doing this, the social networking site is trying to get normal people to begin live-streaming more. For this, the social media giant plans to release a major ad campaign that includes billboards and TV commercials to attract people to its live-streaming tool.
Facebook ad campaign targets regular users
Facebook Live allows users to record and stream live videos to the social network. Facebook already has deals with some publishers to ensure that they use Live and that users have videos to watch on the networking site. In June, the WSJ reported that the tech giant agreed to pay more than $50 million to 140 public figures and publishers to broadcast live and ensure a stable flow of live videos after launch.
Now the tech giant is aiming at regular people who may be a little more reluctant to broadcast their footage on the platform. People familiar with the matter said the idea is to show ordinary people what is possible on Live. The social networking site advertises very rarely on TV. Its last campaign was last year.
To explain the feature to a mass audience, the commercials will feature clips of live videos of people. According to the Journal, the commercials will be developed by The Factory, Facebook’s in-house ad studio. There is no information on how much the tech giant is spending or when the ads will be released.
Part of its bigger push into Live video
Facebook’s ad campaign is all part of its bigger push in live video. The idea for this can be attributed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In April, Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed that the big decision they made was to shift a lot of their video efforts to concentrate on Live because it is an emerging new format, and not the kind of videos that have been online for the past 5 or 10 years.
Competitors like YouTube and Twitter have been trying to push live video as well. Facebook Live, which was released in August 2015, has had profound reverberations already, notes CNET. In July, a Minnesota woman named Diamond Reynolds used it to live-stream her fiancé Philando Castile after he was shot by police.
On Thursday, Facebook shares closed down 0.88% at $128.09. Year to date, the stock is up almost 21%, while in the last year, it is up more than 38%.
