June 12, 2015: Recently, the internet has been abuzz with the news that Facebook has become the new king of online video. In the last few months, Facebook has made a few additions to ramp up its share in the lucrative and trendy video industry. The introduction of auto play video ads, mentions of the importance of video in investor calls, and poaching of YouTube stars have the marketing world making Facebook their video destination.
Marketers, Facebook page owners, and content creators are starting to realize there is more value in publishing a video directly to Facebook than there is uploading it to YouTube alone. Facebook is simply a more effective sharing platform than YouTube, and videos receive more engagement (likes, comments, shares) within Facebook.
Facebook has taken a few aggressive steps to make sure that their native videos have an advantage, including:
1. Facebook videos automatically play as a user scrolls through the news feed.
2. Facebook videos are given a bigger video preview image through the news feed than the small preview boxes you get on YouTube.
3. The clout of several huge YouTube stars is now being transferred to Facebook.
4. Facebook will expand video controls, so it has the flexibility to add interactions (and possibly Buy buttons).
5. Facebook video ads are now more designed to drive engagement than YouTube video ads.
6. Facebook video attracts 76.9% of the social media shares versus 23.1% for YouTube.
Brands like GoPro that count on customer engagement and social sharing have been starting to move their content from YouTube to Facebook. The changeover, within even just a few months, is significant:
Outside of Facebook, YouTube still dominates in terms of video uploads and views. According to Business Insider, , triple the amount in 2013. Also, there has been a 50% jump in the number of video hours viewed monthly since May 2013.
Though, while YouTube is still clearly the dominant player in online video viewing, Facebook is becoming a major video player with its level of reach – and only intends to get stronger.
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