Facebook has gradually positioned video as a big part of the social network’s user experience and the company has now said that it’s going to promote videos more prominently inside News Feed. This means that it’s going to use the core Facebook feature to push its video offerings in order to compete more effectively with the likes of YouTube.
The News Feed is the first thing that Facebook’s 2.1 billion users see when they access the website or launch the app. Leveraging the immense reach of the News Feed will enable Facebook to really push its video offerings to its users.
Facebook users are now more likely to see videos in News Feed that the social network thinks they might be interested in. The videos will also be based on their search history and the pages they have liked. They will also see new episodes of a show if they’ve watched a previous episode.
“Engaging one-off videos that bring friends and communities together have always done well in News Feed and will continue to do so,” Facebook said.
The company also revealed recently that it’s going to start testing pre-roll ads in its Watch service. The ads will be displayed before the videos begin. Facebook’s Watch service was launched earlier this year. It currently hosts video content from partners but will eventually feature original content as well.
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