MENLO PARK, Calif.—A year after Facebook Watch was launched globally, the social media platform is reporting that the service is averaging 720 million people monthly, with more than 140 million people daily who spend a least one minute in Watch. It’s average time for daily visitors is more than 26 minutes.
Facebook Watch was designed to connect people as they watch videos, and Facebook says that it has introduced and will introduce ways for users to do this. Among some of its latest services is featuring groups centered on specific content appearing alongside videos, allowing for visitors to join conversations with other fans. New developments are also on their way, including ways to discover videos that are popular with friends and a section dedicated to co-watching experiences for shows or live videos.
Facebook is also expanding its ability for content creators, featuring the ability to have ad breaks in videos in more than 40 countries. New additions include Canada and upcoming support for the languages of Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Swedish and Telugu.
New content development is also key, per Facebook. It is partnering with global publishers in entertainment and sports, including Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, the International Cricket Council, Australia’s Seven Studios and sporting leagues, as well as international sources for the News in Watch program.
Then there is the slate of Facebook original programming, with season and series premieres for “The Real World,” “Human Discoveries,” “Ball in the Family,” “The Birch,” “Sorry for Your Loss” and more. Facebook also launched a program in March to connect content creators and digital publishers that have resulted in a number of new shows that will debut in the coming months.
