Facebook and Twitter are known for being social networks, places where users share their thoughts and photos. Lately, both networks have entered the arena of video content, despite the fact neither one is a media company. How it will all play out remains to be seen. Let’s look at what Facebook and Twitter are doing, by the numbers.
$18.01: Twitter stock at the closing of business September 14. The price was the result of the launch of Twitter’s new live streaming app. The app is available for a variety of platforms, including Amazon’s Fire TV. It allows users to view content from one of its 250 media partners and from sites such as Periscope and Vine, which Twitter owns. Twitter’s goal is to offer content in three categories – entertainment, news and politics, and sports. Video is Twitter’s largest revenue earner. However, it does not have exclusive rights over video streamed through its app. Source: Investopedia
8 billion: The number of video views per day on Facebook. Despite this, many large media companies, such as Walt Disney, are hesitant to sign deals with Facebook. The companies fear they will be signing over control of their programing to Facebook. The companies also do not like how Facebook would be selling ads for their content and fear content will not be monetised. Facebook, meanwhile, is experimenting with a variety of different ad models. Source: The Wall Street Journal
70-30: The ad revenue split for posting video content on Twitter. Content creators receive 70%, which is higher than other sites, including YouTube, which gives 55%. This percentage is also being offered to its 250 media partners including the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. Will Twitter’s generosity bring it a new audience? Twitter has 310 million active users monthly. This is small compared to YouTube which has billions of monthly visitors. In addition, Twitter remains a text-focused site. It can overcome this challenge with the use of its live streaming site Periscope, which has 35,000 video creators. Source: Wired
1972: The year the famous photo of a girl fleeing napalm was taken in Vietnam. The photo was censored by Facebook, causing users to start a virtual protest. It also started a debate over what control Facebook can have over the media when the media is using Facebook as a means to distribute content. Many journalists have called Facebook a media company. However, Facebook gets its content for free and does not create content. At the same time, millions of users do get news from Facebook, meaning Facebook does have an impact on the news. Source: stratechery
23.6 billion: The number of monthly views Chinese social network Youku receives, most from users 29 and younger. This foreign social network is comparable to YouTube and is an attractive venue for advertisers. During the first nine months of 2015, it made $212 million in ad revenue and has become a platform for sponsored ad content. Like YouTube, Youku also has an interest in virtual reality. It offers more than 20,000 VR videos, adding an average of 1,000 new videos daily. The downside of the network is its high volume of pirated content. Source: Digiday
Top photo: © Gettyimages/ Andrey Popov
