Facebook decided to rival even more with YouTube. Now, the internet giant has struck a series of deals to have the right to display video clips, according to people involved in the matter. With that, the social network definitely enters the field dominated by YouTube.
The sources, who declined to be identified, said the partnerships would be announced soon. According to them, the three largest music labels in the world agreed with Mark Zuckerberg's network: Warner Music, Universal Music and Sony Music Entertainment.
Music clips are one of the most popular genres on YouTube, managed by Alphabet (owner of Google). Facebook has long tried to acquire broadcast rights so that billions of users can watch and share video clips on its platform. The company already had the audio rights, allowing the sharing of videos with background music, for example, but was not allowed to show the official clips.
The company approached some artists and record labels about acquiring exclusive rights to some clips, even if only temporarily, according to the people involved. In some cases, Facebook said it would be willing to pay production costs and that it would promote the video on its service to increase the number of views.
More views
Facebook is looking for new ways to increase video views on its platform, with an eye on a promising market. Video advertising is generally more profitable than other types of ads, and short video apps, such as TikTok, controlled by Chinese ByteDance, have been rapidly gaining users. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic caused YouTube video views to skyrocket.
Last month, Microsoft announced the closure of its streaming service for gamers, called Mixer, and the transfer of its existing partners to the Facebook service.
According to Zuckerberg, the company tries to expand the video capabilities in which producers can create a "community" of fans or followers, and not just focus on the number of views. According to him, this is "something that is much more difficult to do on YouTube, Twitch or other products like these".