Facebook Watch Reaches 1.25 Billion Monthly Visitors Amidst AI Advancements

This article from TechCrunch, published on September 3, 2020, by Anthony Ha, reports on the significant growth of Facebook Watch, which has surpassed 1.25 billion monthly visitors. The platform, launched in 2018, has seen a substantial increase in viewership, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a surge that has not subsided even as societies begin to reopen.

Facebook Watch Growth and Strategy:

Milestone Achievement: Facebook Watch has reached over 1.25 billion monthly visitors, a significant increase from the 720 million monthly viewers reported in June of the previous year.
Pandemic Impact: The platform experienced a "really big surge" at the beginning of lockdowns and social distancing measures, and this increased engagement has persisted.
Dedicated Destination: Product lead Paresh Rajwat emphasized the importance of Watch being a distinct destination, separate from the core Facebook experience of interacting with friends and family. This separation allows for a different product experience focused on video content.
Content Focus: Facebook Watch's strategy centers on content that drives conversations around social topics, rather than directly competing with services like Netflix or Disney+ with traditional scripted shows. Rajwat highlighted this approach as a key differentiator.

Content Examples and Successes:

"Red Table Talk": This popular talk show, featuring Jada Pinkett Smith and her family, has been successful, with a new version, "Red Table Talk: The Estefans," planned for October.
"Returning the Favor": An Emmy-winning program hosted by Mike Rowe, showcasing everyday heroes, was cited as another successful original show.
Live Programming Surge: The pandemic significantly boosted live content viewership. The UEFA Champions League final, for instance, attracted 13.7 million viewers, marking it as the most popular football broadcast ever on Facebook Watch.
Paid Online Events: Facebook has enabled publishers and businesses to charge for access to live online events, waiving fees for the first year.
Licensed Music Videos: The platform added licensed music videos over the summer, with Katy Perry's "Smile" premiere drawing millions of fans.
Successful Publishers and Creators: Organizations like UFC, BuzzFeed, and individual creators like Benito Skinner and Brandi Guice (Braannxo) are highlighted for their success on the platform. Guice, for example, generates 98% of her revenue through Facebook Stars and fan subscriptions.

Future Focus and AI Integration:

Content Customization: A major priority is enhancing content discovery by allowing users to customize their feeds by exploring and subscribing to topics of interest.
AI's Role: While not explicitly detailed in the Facebook Watch section, the article later touches upon broader AI advancements and companies. This includes:
- Cognition: The maker of the AI coding agent Devin, which acquired Windsurf.
- Meta AI: Mentioned in the context of fixing bugs related to AI prompt leaks.
- Thinking Machines Lab: Mira Murati's lab valued at $1.2 billion.
- Voxtral: Mistral's open-source AI audio model.
- AI Therapy Chatbots: Concerns raised about their risks.
- AI Slop: YouTube's preparation to crack down on repetitive AI-generated content.
- AI-Powered Web Browser: Perplexity launching Comet.
- Grok 4: Elon Musk's AI model, potentially consulting Musk himself.
- ChatGPT: Mentioned as a significant AI chatbot.

The article concludes by highlighting upcoming TechCrunch events and popular articles, many of which are related to AI and its evolving landscape.